Tammy Stock
Appearances
Murder in the Moonlight
The Final Dominoes Fall
We did. It's the first time we saw them. And us three sat in the front row. We watched them both walk in one at a time. I didn't think I could feel so much anger and sorrow and sadness. And I thought, you know.
Murder in the Moonlight
About Face
We have just lost both our mom and our dad. To lose one is horrible, but to lose both of them and not have those parent figures that kept this family going, where do we go? How do we help Andy with the farm? How do we let our children have a normal life?
Murder in the Moonlight
When It All Falls Apart
It's a difficult situation. None of us are attorneys. None of us are in law enforcement. And you're just sitting there trying to take it all in, trying to figure out, okay, how does this work? Why does this happen?
Murder in the Moonlight
The Ring
I can hear Mom and Dad say, Tammy, you can let this eat you alive. Or you can go on and be the best that you can be and do what needs to be done, and that is family. So we can dwell on it, but we choose not to because that's not what mom and dad would want.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
It was about 1230 at night. He says, Tam, I need you to be awake. Are you awake? And I said, yeah. And he says, are you sure? And I said, yes, I'm awake. What's going on? And he said, they arrested Matt and Nick. And I said... Matt, Nick, who? And he said, our cousin Matt and Nick Sampson.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Before I even saw Steve and Tammy, they had put me in a car and took me to another town and questioned me in a room. Trying to establish whether or not you were involved. Yeah. Did gunshot residue tests. It's like, is this really happening?
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
My husband had given me the phone and I was sitting up in bed and I said, should I be shaking? And he said, that's normal, the shock.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
Our first reaction was, is Grandma? Somebody needs to tell our Grandma? She had just lost her only son, and her grandson is being arrested for this. And we thought, what 80-year-old has to go through this? And pretty much we were up at dawn, and we called the pastor and said, you need to meet us because we need to tell Grandma, and we don't know how to do it.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
And so we went over and talked to Grandma that next day and told her. And just like us, she's like, I don't understand. And I said, Grandma, none of us understand any of this.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
I mean, I had quite a bit of that. I was like, well, at least we're moving on to the next phase of this. We're not going to wonder for the rest of our lives. So I was relieved, I guess, to know that they had somebody.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
I was sitting up in bed and I said, Andy, should I be shaking? And he said, that's normal. It's shock.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
There was over 2,000 people at the funeral. Wow. Son Steve. They filled the whole gymnasium and the floor and the stands and everything.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
It was a little overwhelming. We were off in a separate area, kind of secluded. And then when it started, they walked us in and it was just like, holy cow. It was just packed with people. It was really overwhelming.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
The grandkids ran around their yard. It was Grandma and Papa's yard.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
They found their Easter eggs. They found their Easter baskets. Mom always made every individual Easter basket special to that child.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
Him and Dad kind of had a lot of falling outs about him staying with Grandma, and Dad didn't think he should be here, that he needed to find a job of his own and get out and put a little more effort into things maybe or something, so they kind of butted ahead just a little bit.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Don't think they ever missed a game of any of ours. Dad would always stop farming just to be at a game, similar with Mom.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
One time I was at work and dad called me and said, wanted to know if he could stop by and see me. So he did, and he had Matt with him. And he'd spent the whole day driving Matt around Lincoln, applying for jobs. And I was like, you know, wow. And there's another guy there working with me when they left. He's like, I don't know anybody that would do that.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
I don't know anybody that would take their nephew out and drive all over town, helping him find a job. He goes, that's really cool that your dad would do that.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
They were loving parents. I remember both of them. Just always saying, live life to the fullest. Just live life.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
In our family, they didn't bother us with the little things. They never made anything into a big production. No drama household. No drama household.
Murder in the Moonlight
Keep Your Enemies Close
I think in my head, I went to it a little bit, just knowing that they hadn't gotten along real well.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
One thing I always heard from mom was take responsibility for your actions, be responsible.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
She would praise you and just keep pushing you to do better. She always wanted us to be better people.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
At least we got that one day. My kids remember it. They talk about it all the time.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Called Mom and Dad, I want to say about 9, 9 o'clock that night. I'm already home, and... So I'm going to come get the dog and get him out of your hair for a little while.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
So I came in about, I want to say 9.30, 10 o'clock, if I recall, that night. And they met me on the deck on the back of the house. And we talked about Easter and what they did and played with the dog a little bit and stuff. Dad and I were going to start planting corn the next day. And so we talked about the farm a little bit, and they each gave me a hug, and I went home.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
I drove in, and I went in the shop on the farm. And Dad's pickup was there, which I thought was a little bit strange. Normally, he went to the post office about 9 o'clock every day. So I thought, well, maybe he's not gone yet, or maybe he took Mom's car to put gas in it for her. for the day.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Had some paperwork for dad. Went in the house, laid it on the kitchen table, turned around and left. Looking back, I thought it was strange. There was no coffee made. But at the time, I didn't connect. Went to the shop and getting things ready for the morning. And Got to thinking that, you know, it was kind of strange. There wasn't a lot of movement around.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
The back door was open, but the screen door was shut. Sure. Didn't connect with that. Went inside again and, you know, didn't really see anything unusual, I guess. I think I tried to call Dad's cell phone. He didn't answer. And that's when I thought, well, Where could they have gone? Picked up the phone in the house. Thought, well, I'd try him again. And there was no dial tone.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
And that's when my heart kind of sunk. I guess that, for some reason, was a little bit of a trigger in my mind. Something was wrong. Something was wrong. Thought, well, I better go upstairs. As I started up the stairs, there was some blood on the walls. and whatnot, and, you know, I knew it was bad.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
You know, I don't... I think good Lord protects us. Yeah. Um... My body's kind of going to shock, I think. And even at the time I saw the blood in the stairway, I thought, well, gosh, maybe something happened and they left in the ambulance. They wouldn't have wanted it. They said, oh, we'll call in the morning if it wasn't that bad.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
So that was kind of my process of thought, I guess, at that point. Until I rounded the corner and saw Dad laying there on the floor.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
I never made it past the landing. My cell phone was out my pickup. And I just turned around and went out of the house. I went to call for help. That's all there was. Never went back in. Didn't see your mother's body? No. No. Didn't know where she was at. Didn't know if she was home.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Andy's wife and I work together. She answered the phone call, and she didn't even recognize Andy's voice. Didn't even know. She came in the back and said, Cam, something's wrong. Andy just called and said, come quick. Dad's laying in a pool of blood.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
By 11, 1 and 30, both Cass and I were both like, something is really wrong. Something is wrong. And the minister called and said, you need to come home. And I said, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong. And they said, Jerome, I'm dead. I've been killed. I think I did start screaming, and we headed towards the farm to be with Andy.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Never in a million years would you think that you'd see your parents' house taped off, the farm taped off by that yellow tape.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
July of 05, dad and I were working together. We were standing there and he looked at me and he said, son, he said, when it's my day to go, he said, hold your head high, keep living life. I'll never forget that.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
The investigators asked us a whole bunch of questions. What I can't I don't remember. And I think at that time, I think Andy's right. You go into shock. Yeah. I don't remember conversations. I don't remember how. I've tried to figure it out, how I got from talking to the investigators. And the next thing I remember, I was at Andy and Cassie's house. And then from there, we went to grandma's.
Murder in the Moonlight
In Cold Blood
Grandma lived a quarter mile away. How we got there, I don't know. How long we were at Grandma's, I don't know. You pretty much just shut down. It's all a blur.