Local author set to discuss Hendricks murder trial on TV

Steve Vogel, author of ‘Reasonable Doubt’, talks about Hendricks murder case. (photo courtesy: WJBC file photo)

 

By Greg Halbleib

A local author says he’s curious about what information is presented in a television show this weekend about a 35-year-old murder case.

In his book, “Reasonable Doubt,” Steve Vogel documented the case against David Hendricks, who was found guilty of killing his wife and three children in their Bloomington home in 1983, but later had his convictions overturned. Vogel was WJBC’s news director at the time and covered the investigation and trials.

An ABC television crew interviewed Vogel about the case for a story set to air this Saturday. Vogel told WJBC’s Susan Saunders that questions remain all these years later:

“I don’t know for sure,” Vogel said. “I really don’t know. Over the years I’ve kind of been like 60/40 one way or the other, but I’m drifting more to saying that Hendricks probably, in fact, did not kill his family.”

PODCAST: Listen here to Vogel’s interview with WJBC’s Susan Saunders.

The television story, “The Darkest Night,” is scheduled to run at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday on the Investigation Discovery network. Vogel has updated his book about the case with digital editions to be released this weekend and the paperback update next week.

“I’ve come to conclusion that if Hendricks did it, at least he did suffer some punishment. He lost his good name, he lost six or seven years of the best part of his life in a terrible prison. On the other [hand], it just isn’t an adequate punishment, in my mind, for the person who did this. It was a horrible thing.”

Vogel’s updated book can be ordered through his website, stevevogelauthor.com.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected]

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