The Fugitive

Park Predators

A 1984 murder in Great Smoky Mountains National Park led to the capture of serial offender William Hewlett, who evaded justice for years after committing multiple violent crimes. His victim, Rosaline Goodman, vanished during a solo trip and was later found murdered. Evidence pointed to Hewlett, who had a history of violence and fraud. His eventual arrest came after a tip from a national fugitive p

Key takeaways

• Hewlett committed murder, sexual assault, and fraud over 11 years on the run.
• Victim Rosaline Goodman was likely targeted due to her trusting nature.
• Investigators used behavioral analysis and tip lines to track Hewlett.

Transcript preview

Hi Park enthusiasts, I'm your host Delia Diambra. And the case I'm going to tell you about today is truly a doozy. When I first elected it for this podcast, I thought I knew for the most part what I was going to be dealing with. But boy was I in for a surprise. For me, covering this case began as one thing. I was looking into a woman's mysterious murder in one of America's most well-known recreation spaces. Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But as I kept digging and finding out more and more information, I discovered that this story was way bigger than just one crime. The perpetrator at the center of this case was someone who had a history of awful crimes spanning nearly two decades. It just seems no one really connected the dots about him because he managed to stay one step ahead of authorities. Well, that is until the folks at America's Most Wanted got involved. talking about the modern reboot AMW producers who have social media on their side. I'm talking about the OG 1980s AMW crews, the ones who use the power of television and landline phones to help federal investigators sweep fugitives off the streets. This is Park Predators. You're doing. On Thursday, September 27th, 1984, loved ones of 35-year-old Rosaline Rose Goodman noticed that she hadn't returned from a vacation in eastern Tennessee. Among those worried was Danny Morgan, Rosaline's brother. His sister was divorced with two kids and owned a cleaning business called Yes, we do windows that she ran out of her home in Memphis. At the time, her teenage daughter Adrian and son Nicholas lived with their dad, Roy in Bartlett, Tennessee. But it seems, despite the couple's divorce, the kids had a good relationship with both their parents. However, based on what I read in news coverage about this case, it doesn't appear the co-parenting situation between Roslyn and Roy was very good, though. Investigators learned from speaking with her loved ones that shortly before her trip, she complained to relatives that she'd been having problems with her ex-husband, which is why she wanted to get away to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to, to, according to her, meditate and pray in the mountains. After giving it a few days, Roslyn's family decided on October 4th that enough was enough. And they officially filed a missing person's report for her with the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, now known as the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Investigators from that agency learned from speaking with Roslyn's friends and family that after leaving home on the morning of Monday, September 24th, she'd briefly stopped in Jackson, Tennessee to see one of her brothers for lunch before lunch before traveling to meet up with a friend in Nashville that same night. She went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with that friend which ended at 9 PM. According to coverage by the Knoxville News Sentinel another friend of hers who lived in Atlanta Georgia was originally planning to meet up with her in Nashville and then go camping together in the Smokies. But at the last minute that person ended up bailing because of a scheduling mix-up so Roslin had continued on her journey alone late at night on the 24th. And despite her Nashville friends' that it was dangerous to travel alone, Roslyn had left the music city and gone east to the Gatlinburg area. Her plan all along had been to return to Memphis on Thursday the 27th. In fact, around lunchtime, either that day or the day before, she'd called her teenage daughter Adrian from a payphone and told her she was looking forward to being back. One of Roslyn's sisters told the Knoxville new Sentinel that she had told Adrian quote, we were camping in Cade's Cove and I am going back to Kade's Cove and I am going back to Kade's to get my stuff, which suggested she was in the company of other people. Otherwise, Roslyn wouldn't have used the phrase, we. And that statement struck loved ones as odd at the time, because as far as they were aware, after Roslyn's friend bailed on her, she was supposed to be traveling by herself. But until loved ones knew what exactly was going on, they basically had to sit tight and wait to see what investigators would turn up. An important piece of the puzzle, though, regardless of whether Roslyn was just overdue, or something worse had happened to her, was her car. The vehicle was described as a yellow in color, well-used 1970 Volkswagen Beetle with a Tennessee license plate. Like Roslyn, it was missing, along with all of the camping gear that neighbors had seen her pack for her trip. She'd also just acquired an Arabian stallion which she was boarding at a stable near her home. And reportedly this horse purchase was something she was really excited about, so it didn't make any sense that she'd not come back to care for it. However, despite authorities working the case diligently, few clues emerged in the weeks after Roslin was reported missing. About three months later, some of her friends started making plans to travel to the Gatlinburg area to search for her. But those plans would be dashed come Saturday, December 29th. That day, a family hiking through a wooded area on a steep ridge near the Cades Cove section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, came across. what appeared to be a human skull buried beneath a clump of leaves or a log. Depends on which source material you read. The family had been following a deer to try and get a picture of it when they stumbled upon the remains. They alerted authorities about the discovery and when investigators took a closer look, they eventually determined the bones had been there for about two or three months. A pathologist in Knoxville studied the remains even further and concluded that they belonged to a white woman in her 30s who had brown hair. and at the time of her death she'd been wearing tennis shoes blue jeans a green jacket yellow vest and white socks with green and yellow stripes on the top. She also had a gray shirt with multi-colored lines on it and a red sweatshirt and there was evidence found that suggested animals had disturbed her remains after she died. As far as her cause of death, investigators weren't exactly sure what it could be. They didn't find any traumatic injuries on her bones that suggested she'd been a victim of foul play. So nothing like bullet wounds or stab wounds or even traces of blood on the woman's clothing. In fact authorities weren't even sure who she was. Officials told the press that the remains didn't match anyone who'd been reported missing in the park. However, it appears that wasn't the thought process behind the scenes because just one day after the woman's bones were discovered, law enforcement put out an alert asking folks to be on the lookout for a 1970s Volkswagen, which to me sort of suggests investigators thought the remains could be Roslyn. But according to the coverage authorities didn't confirm that suspicion publicly. The Knoxville news Sentinel reported that after the start of the new year investigators said they were seeking dental records for a woman who'd been reported missing, aka Roslyn. And by January 4th it was officially confirmed via dental x-rays that the skeleton in the park was in fact her. Now despite authorities being unable to tell how she died, they didn't result of suicide or exposure to the elements. By all accounts Roslyn had been healthy and looking forward to a trip. So there was no basis for authorities to assume it was a natural death. They were pretty clear with the press that they were operating off the suspicion she'd been murdered and that the crime had likely occurred in the park sometime during the last week of September. When they checked camping permit records they didn't see that a permit had been issued to Roslyn and they also couldn't find anyone who'd remembered interacted. with her yellow v. W. Beetle, which was odd because the time that she'd planned to be in the area was one of the park's busiest tourist seasons. So because of this, investigators surmise that it was possible Roslyn had never made it into the park of her own free will. And from that point on in the investigation, the case was handled jointly by the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, the FBI and the National Park Service. items of evidence that officials sent to the FBI's lab for forensic. testing included Roslyn's shoes, some of her clothing, and soil samples from where she'd been found. While they waited for results to come back, news of her death reached her neighbors in Memphis. They were saddened to hear what happened to her and described her to newspapers at the time as a friendly outgoing person who liked being outside and who was into all sorts of sports like jogging, skiing, and even hang gliding. They said she was the type of woman who'd help anyone who needed assistance, even if she didn't know them. Her mother Norris Morgan told the commercial appeal that this particular aspect of her daughter's personality had always been concerning. She remarked, quote, she would help anybody. I had cautioned her so often. She thought everybody was good. End quote. Within a day or so of Roslyn formally being identified, investigators caught another break in the case when they received a call from someone who said they'd found her yellow v. W. parked at a bus station in the small town of Alcoa, Tennessee,