Transcript

Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?

From Crime Junkie · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 36 min · 6,668 words · 77 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?", an episode of Crime Junkie published February 2, 2026 (36 min, about 6,668 words). It mentions 13 people, works and ideas, including Bobby Moore, Crime Junkie, Barbara Sysler, Kevin Smith, Fremont, Indiana.

What this episode is about

A complex real-life mystery spanning from a DC murder tied to a judge’s dying clues to small-town power struggles and domestic violence, culminating in a bungled investigation that leaves the question: who killed Bobby Moore? The tale threads mistaken identity, political intrigue, and a violent crime across Indiana and Washington, with a decades-long pursuit for answers.

Key takeaways

  • Mistaken identity isn’t a plot device here—it's a chilling courtroom reality that collapses careers and circles back to murder.
  • A mother's vigilante logic erupts into conspiracy charges; here, justice appears to require more paperwork than evidence.
  • From DC power corridors to a Indiana town’s doorstep, politics fuels suspicion but rarely explains who shot whom.
  • The assault victim's unknown attacker becomes a legal black hole—unidentified, uncharged, and forever in question.
  • Cold-case journalism works best when questions outpace records—this saga proves worth in chasing what documents omit.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Bobby Moore, Lewis A. Sysler, Mark Harris, Crime Junkie
  2. – 10:00: Bobby Moore, Barbara Sysler, Fremont, Indiana, Kevin Smith
  3. – 15:00: Barbara Sysler, Barbara Schuford
  4. – 20:00: Barbara Schuford
  5. – 25:00: Crime Junkie
  6. – 30:00: Kevin Smith
  7. – 35:00: Kevin Smith, Washington Post
  8. – 36:10: Bobby Moore, Crime Junkie, Fremont, Indiana, Idaho State Police

Notable quotes from "Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?"

  • Nixon is like a month away from resigning from the presidency. And when this is happening, Metro PD homicide detective Bobby Moore gets a call that a judge has been shot. He…
    about Bobby Moore · at
  • Work, cuz after he retired as a judge, he went to work for a senator on Capitol Hill, and he was also a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. So for a hot minute…
    about Lewis A. Sysler · at
  • She ends up getting convicted of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon, felony murder, and attempted first-degree burglary while armed. Now, the burglary charge…
    about Mark Harris · at
  • And documented, it seems like the judge was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And at the end of the day, Bobby got what he was after, a conviction for a judge's shooting. But like I said, that is just the start of our story.
    about Metro PD · at
  • Won't need to because just three days before their divorce is set to be finalized, Barbara is shot dead in their home, and Bobby is the one holding the gun. But when he calls…
    about Barbara Sysler · at
  • Telling her to hang up because he had to call 911. Now, the second she heard him say that, she and her husband got in the car and headed to her mom's house. And the first thing…
    about Barbara Schuford · at
  • That the killer knew Bobby's schedule well enough to know when he would be getting home. The current investigator on Bobby's case, Captain Kevin Smith, says that the fact that…
    about Idaho State Police · at
  • You can find all the source material for this episode on our website crimejunkkey.com and you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkie podcast.
    about Crime Junkie · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Bobby Moore — Person · Central figure / victim (later homicide victim) and key actor in earlier investigation · 6 mentions · first at
    He investigates Judge Sysler’s 1974 murder, later marries the victim’s widow, becomes Fremont town marshal, shoots Barbara Sysler, is cleared, then is assassinated in 1988—his unsolved murder is the episode’s core mystery.
  • Barbara Sysler — Person · Victim (1988 shooting) and connective figure between two crimes · 3 mentions · first at
    Widow of Judge Lewis A. Sysler who later marries Detective Bobby Moore; her death (shot by Bobby) triggers community outrage and is framed as a potential motive for Bobby’s later murder.
  • Kevin Smith — Person · Referenced expert / lead investigator source (Indiana State Police) · 4 mentions · first at
    He contacts the podcast to publicize the cold case, provides characterization of Bobby Moore, and discusses investigative theories and constraints; he also has a personal connection (academy classmate) to Samuel Sysler.
    Own doorstep in Indiana. And the reason I know about this case is because I actually got a call from Captain Kevin Smith with the Indiana State Police, who is known for…
  • Lewis A. Sysler — Person · Initial homicide victim (1974) / catalyst for the broader narrative · 3 mentions · first at
    A judge shot in D.C. in 1974 in a mistaken-identity incident; his death brings Bobby Moore into contact with Barbara Sysler and sets off the chain of events leading to later violence in Indiana.
  • Barbara Schuford — Person · Key witness (earwitness) / family member of victim · 3 mentions · first at
    Barbara Sysler’s daughter who is on the phone during the fatal confrontation; her account conflicts with Bobby Moore’s self-defense narrative and shapes community suspicion.
  • Mark Harris — Person · Perpetrator (convicted) in the 1974 mistaken-identity case · 2 mentions · first at
    Mother of the assaulted woman; organizes the group that confronts the wrong house, leading to Judge Sysler’s death; convicted of serious charges including felony murder.
  • Samuel Haynes — Person · Scene anchor / homeowner tied to the 1974 shooting location · 1 mention · first at
    Father-in-law of Judge Lewis A. Sysler; his home is where the mistaken-identity confrontation and shooting occurs.
    Crime, which as Lewis told him was at his father-in-law's house, Samuel Haynes. Samuel's daughter, Barbara, had married Lewis 23 years before, and they'd built a life together…

Companies & orgs

  • Idaho State Police — Company · Referenced expert · 3 mentions · first at
    Key law enforcement agency involved in the investigation of Bobby Moore's murder.
  • Metro PD — Company · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Bobby Moore's former employer where he worked as a homicide detective.
  • National Rifle Association — Company · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    Organization where Judge Lewis Sysler worked as a lobbyist, adding context to the political climate of the time.
    Work, cuz after he retired as a judge, he went to work for a senator on Capitol Hill, and he was also a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. So for a hot minute…
  • Washington Post — Company · Case study · 2 mentions · first at
    Media outlet that reported on Bobby Moore's appointment as town marshal.
    This big shot homicide detective from DC. And all these deputies seem to look up to him. According to the Washington Post, Bobby is officially appointed in June of 1984.…

Places & events

  • Fremont, Indiana — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    Primary location where key events of the story unfold, including the murder of Bobby Moore.
    Urged us to cover this story in hopes that someone somewhere can bring him answers to a question that has haunted the small town of Fremont, Indiana for decades. Who killed Bobby Moore?

Media & podcasts

  • Crime Junkie — Media · Host · 3 mentions · first at
    Podcast where the story is being told, providing the narrative framework.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hi, crime junkies. The story I have for you today reads more like an old film noir than real life. It starts with a mistaken identity and murder in DC, pivots to small town power politics, spirals into domestic violence, and ends with a town marshal gunned down on his own doorstep in Indiana. And the reason I know about this case is because I actually got a call from Captain Kevin Smith with the Indiana State Police, who is known for cracking cold cases and who urged us to cover this story in hopes that someone somewhere can bring him answers to a question that has haunted the small town of Fremont, Indiana for decades. Who killed Bobby Moore?

It's July 13th, 1974 in DC, a time of epic unrest in the capital city. Watergate just broke. Nixon is like a month away from resigning from the presidency. And when this is happening, Metro PD homicide detective Bobby Moore gets a call that a judge has been shot. He rushes to the hospital and finds Judge Lewis A. Sysler dying in a bed. And some of his final words to the detective are telling him that he had been at his father-in-law's house. And when he opened the door, there was a group of people who shot at him as they tried to get into the house.

They didn't, but they got him. And shortly after giving that information to the detective, Lewis dies. With only those few facts to go on, Bobby sets out investigating what is now a homicide. So, he goes back to the scene of the crime, which as Lewis told him was at his father-in-law's house, Samuel Haynes. Samuel's daughter, Barbara, had married Lewis 23 years before, and they'd built a life together in northern Indiana, where Lewis had been a state judge. They'd left their three adult children and moved to DC for Lewis's work, cuz after he retired as a judge, he went to work for a senator on Capitol Hill, and he was also a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. So for a hot minute, considering the political climate, they probably wondered if Lewis was targeted for his work.

But the real motive was much different and as it turns out, had nothing to do with politics at all. Apparently, earlier that night, a young woman who is referred to as Mrs. Brandon in the court records. She was walking home from a neighborhood bar when a guy grabbed her, forced her into a garage, and sexually assaulted her. After the assault, she made it back to her mom's house, told her mother, Mary, what had happened. And right away, Mary went to police to report that assault. Now, I don't know what their response was, but probably not great because it seems like Mary thought she needed to take matters into her own hands. So, she got her grandson and his friends together and they decided that they were going to go back to that bar she had been at to find this guy themselves. Now, he wasn't there, so they came up with another idea. Mary's daughter identified two garages in the neighborhood that looked like the ones

she was assaulted in, but it's not totally clear from the limited records that we were able to get why she thought that the guy who assaulted her might have owned the garage that she was attacked in. But, this is all she has to go on. So they go to one house and they determine this isn't the right guy. So then they go back to the bar, started a bar fight, and then left, possibly after several drinks, and when they leave, they go to the second home that Mary's daughter had picked out. And that second home is Sam Hayne's house. So Mary and several others march up to the front door, knock, and when Lewis opens the door, the New York Times reported that they said, quote, "We're looking for the guy that raped our sister." And Lewis is like, "Listen, you must have the wrong house." And he tried to close the door.

And it was then that two people in the group started shooting through it. The judge gets hit several times and, as we know, later dies in the hospital. So once Detective Bobby Moore pieces all of this together, he comes to the conclusion that this must have been a case of mistaken identity and all the arrests are made. According to an appeal document, which was one of the only records we could get for this case, Mary Harris, who is the mother of this woman, she ends up getting convicted of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon, felony murder, and attempted first-degree burglary while armed. Now, the burglary charge was because someone in the group allegedly tried to push past the judge into the house, and the court suspected it was to commit a burglary. Now, I know two other men were convicted, too. They were the ones police that actually pulled the trigger or triggers, but I don't have as

much detail because there weren't any court records for them that we could get.

Wait, so who actually committed the assault on Mary's daughter? So, short answer,

I don't know. Uh, we couldn't find anything saying that a suspect had been arrested for that sexual assault. Like, in all the court documents, the perp is referred to as an unknown asalent,

but they know it's not the judge. That's what they said. Mistaken identity. How do we How do we know it's not the judge? Cuz it's not like they were shooting at everyone's front door. They went to someone else's house first and they

like knew it wasn't the right guy. Like, did they say they got the wrong guy? Are they standing behind the ID? You're asking all the right questions, the same ones I did, but they're the questions I can't get answers to. At first blush, I'm like, um, how hard did we look at former judge Louisis Sistler who works for a senator in DC,

right? Like, did Mary and her crew say that they got the wrong person, or were were, like you said, were they standing by their statements? What weight did they give their statements, whatever they were, compared to that of Lewis and his family

who have all these political connections, these friendships? So, yeah. I mean, is Mary or any of her family still around? Girl, I tried to find them. I can't. I'm like weirdly obsessed with this part of the story now, which like

it's kind of sad you said part of the story cuz that means we can't like hang out here and dig deep.

It's literally just like the setup for our main story. But I don't know. I I don't know. I There's like layers here. I can feel. So, if this story makes anyone listening like their ears perk up, if you knew Mary or her family, like I'm still down to talk. Email me tipsuck.com. But I'm kind of wondering what if it's everything like what if it was mistaken identity? What if it wasn't Louis but it was someone else at the house? Like what if it's I mean like he's not even in his own house, right? Like he's not he doesn't own the house.

No, it's it's his in-laws. But I don't know if he was there. I don't know if anyone else was there. This is where the investigative records would have been really helpful, but I don't have those. Based on everything that's been reported and documented, it seems like the judge was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And at the end of the day, Bobby got what he was after, a conviction for a judge's shooting. But like I said, that is just the start of our story. Because believe it or not, the murder investigation ends up changing the course of Bobby's life. Because through investigating the death of Louiswis Sysler, Detective Bobby Moore meets his wife, Barbara Sysler, and they get married 3 years later.

Wait, you you meant his his wife like Louiswis's wife? Yes. He You're telling me he marries the victim's wife?

Yes. I don't know what it would be, but like is there not a policy against dating a murder victim's wife after you investigated the murder? I don't I don't know. It's definitely It's weird to me. Yeah. But for Bobby, this is like a Hollywood ending. He solves the crime. He gets the girl. And he eventually retires from Metro PD. And now that they can live anywhere, he and Barbara decide to move back to Fremont, Indiana in 1984. My guess would be so that Barbara could be closer to her grown children, Barbara Jr., Samuel, and Debbie. One big happy family. But apparently things weren't as movieesque as they appeared on the outside. And this move to Indiana marks the beginning of a very twisted end.

Whenever there's a controversial trial, do you ever wonder, did the jury get it right? I'm Brandy Churchwell, and this is the 13th Jur podcast, where we break down real court cases and put you in the jury seat.

All right, jury and courtroom. When the gavl falls, the jury's decision may be final, but the debate is far from over. Listen to 13th Juror wherever you get your podcast.

We have the jury find as follows as the cow. Not long after moving, Bobby gets appointed as town marshal, which is like the chief of police in small towns. And he is viewed as this like hero, right? This big shot homicide detective from DC. And all these deputies seem to look up to him. According to the Washington Post, Bobby is officially appointed in June of 1984. Captain Kevin Smith with the Indiana State Police says that Bobby was the town marshal you picture. Like when you think of a 1960s TV show, he's friendly. He's pretty lax. He probably wasn't always that way, but you know, as a homicide detective, especially in DC, he would have seen it all. Like the worst of the worst. And Captain Smith says that he was at that point in his career where he probably wanted to be as laid-back as he could. Like

let things slide a little, you know, and like small town versus DC, like it feels like an easier job maybe.

Yeah. But there might have been more to it than just where he was in his career because you see, Bobby has a pretty severe alcohol use disorder and it just seems to worsen once they moved to Indiana. So along with all the ways that that could affect his job, it also affects his home life. His and Barbara's marriage begins to fall apart over the next couple of years. They're fighting all of the time. And Barbara confides to her daughter that she thinks Bobb's actually having an affair. So by the end of 1987, the two of them are barely coexisting. They're still in the same house, though. Like Barbara lives on the main floor of their home, and Bobby stays out of her way paying his wife rent to live in the finished basement.

And it was done up like almost like a little apartment. It had a bedroom, a kitchen, separate entrance, separate phone line, everything. And by the way, like this fairy tale ending is dissolving publicly in small towns. Everybody knows everybody's business. I mean, specifically small town Northern Indiana. We know that place.

So, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone when Bobby and Barbara both file for a divorce. But it is not amicable. Nothing like, oh, you know, we just realized like we're not good together. It's not

I mean yeah they're living in the same house like even they're they're in different parts of it like yeah

yeah it's and toxic but the clock is on now divorce papers have been filed and I assume that once the divorce is final one of them will have to move out and they can both move on. I don't know what the arrangement was. They might have still been figuring that out, but they won't need to because just three days before their divorce is set to be finalized, Barbara is shot dead in their home, and Bobby is the one holding the gun. But when he calls police at 10:41 p.m. and they show up 5 minutes later, he says it's not what it looks like.

What really happened in the basement of Bobby and Barbara's home on the night of February 26th, 1988 is still a mystery. One that divided a town and turned locals against one another. Only two people were in the house that night. One of them is now dead. Here is what Bobby said happened. According to the probable cause affidavit that we got, Bobby says that around 10:30 p.m. he was downstairs in his apartment area of the shared house talking to someone on the phone in his kitchen when his wife Barbara, who wouldn't be his wife in 3 days when the divorce was finalized, started pounding on the door of the basement. He hung up the phone and went to unlock the door at the end of the hall. And when the door opened, Barbara was on the other side just liv. She came in hot and accused him of having an affair with the person that he was speaking to. He says that she had come all the way in and was in

the kitchen by that point. And he says that Barbara was so angry that she like swept this stack of papers off the counter and threw his phone at him. And at that moment, he says that Barbara's phone line rang. Now, she had a receiver like in the main floor, but also at the bottom of the basement stairs. So, she went to pick up that one in the basement. And the next thing Bobby knew, she was yelling at him to come to the phone. But Bobby didn't want anything to do with it. He said he went back into his bedroom and Barbara followed him. He tried to close the door to keep her out, but Barbara was pushing against it, trying to force her way in. I mean, she's smaller than him, but she's got a little leverage since the door opens inward. So, she's pushing in. He's pushing out against it, trying to hold it closed. But he said that he was pushing the door so hard to try and close it that he pushed the door through

the frame and broke the door off the hinges. And when that happened, he says that Barbara rushed into the bedroom where he was brandishing a cocked pistol in her right hand. He shouts at her to put the gun down, but she keeps coming at him. So he grabbed his own gun off a nearby shelf and shot her. Oh my god. Now his phone was out of commission cuz she'd thrown it at him. So he immediately went to the phone by the bottom of the stairs. It's still off the hook. So he hangs it up and calls 911. Now they're here and he's like, you know, this is terrible. But it's all self-defense.

The thing is the receiver was off the hook because someone was on the line, someone who heard everything. And between her story and what the crime scene is showing, something isn't adding up. So, here's the story from the person on the other end of that receiver. That was Barbara's oldest daughter, Barbara Schuford. And I know them having the same name could get a bit confusing, so I'm just going to call her by her married last name, Schuford. So, Schuford says that her mom called her earlier that evening, and in that time, she seemed to be in a good mood. To my surprise, based on what we know, Barbara told her daughter that even though her divorce from Bobby was imminent, she and Bobby were getting along and they'd actually just gone out to a nice dinner.

So, they had that conversation, they hang up, that's that nice call with mom. But later that evening, Barbara calls back and now she's upset and she said that she found out who Bobby was having an affair with. The record doesn't say who it was or explain how Barbara allegedly caught them. I mean, I wonder if she was like listening in on their phone conversations.

I don't think she could. So, there there was that phone in the basement, but it's connected to her main line, not his. So, like I don't know what she thought she knew or how she knew it. But regardless,

at this point, when she thinks she knows, Barbara is so angry that she didn't even want to be in the same house anymore. She wanted her daughter to come pick her up. So, her daughter hangs up. It's like, "Listen, I'm going to talk to my husband about this." And then she calls her mom back. This is the call that Barbara went to answer on the basement phone mid-fight. So, Barbara picks up on the first ring and her daughter could tell that she was even more upset now. So, she's trying to like calm the situation down. And at some point, her mom said that she wanted her to speak to her stepfather, meaning Bobby, and she could hear her mom put the receiver down. And then she heard Barbara and Bobby shouting at each other. Her mom was yelling to Bobby that he needed to come to the phone and like admit what he'd done. and Bobby just replied by yelling profanities and then he told her to quote shut up. She then

heard a loud noise and then the next thing she knew, Bobby was on the phone telling her to hang up because he had to call 911. Now, the second she heard him say that, she and her husband got in the car and headed to her mom's house. And the first thing her husband Tom says when he walks up to the scene leaves little room for doubt about what they think happened. He looked right at Bobby and he said, "Why do you kill her?" And Bobb's only response was that he didn't mean to. But they don't believe him. Not just because of what Barbara Schuford heard on the other end of that phone that night. She's basing a lot of her feelings on what she heard on a tape that her mother made her 3 months before her death. a tape that she hands over to police where from beyond the grave, Barbara talks of Bobby trying to kill her before and that if something ever happens to her, no one should believe that she took her own life. Basically,

if I die, look at Bobby. Did she hear anything more than shut up on the phone? I mean, he said he told her to put the gun down. She tells police in no uncertain terms that she did not hear Bobby say put the gun down. There was no talk of any gun ever. And by the way, she had no reason to believe her mom would even be holding a gun. And moreover, she says that her mom usually kept her gun in a closet upstairs. And she didn't hear her mom go up or down the stairs, which she feels like she would have because the phone is right there by the stairs. And she says that she wouldn't even had enough time based on the length of the call that like in what she was hearing and everything happening. But there might be an explanation, just not one that really helps Bobby's position much. Allegedly, Barbara's son-in-law, Tom, had heard from Barbara's other daughter, Debbie, that within the last week or so, her mom

told her that Bobby had taken her gun from her. So, that gun was probably in the basement if he took it. Yeah. But that still doesn't line up with his story. I mean, in his version of events, the phone call comes in and then she tries to get into his bedroom. He breaks the door off the hinges, which by the way, I feel like you would hear.

I feel like that would be a little bit of a commotion, especially with two people kind of battling it out on either side of the door

and the door coming off the hinges like so. And like, so they they're fighting, the door comes off the hinges, then Barbara supposedly comes at him with the gun, he fires. Her daughter only hears one loud noise. It just doesn't add up. No, it doesn't. I also don't like physically get how he pushes the door so hard it breaks through the door frame and comes out into the hallway yet she's left standing to pull a gun on him.

I guess that's what I'm thinking. Like if like when I say a commotion, I'm like the door is coming through and it's got to knock her over. Knock her into the wall like

or p I guess push her back if if it happened kind of slowly or it just like it just feels like there would be so much more again. And like and like right away like right he she's pulling the gun on him, he shoots her. Like it's all happening so fast that I just can't make heads or tails of it. Also, none of the stories explain how Barbara ended up where she did. Bobby said that Barbara was well inside his bedroom holding the gun in her right hand, but officers found Barbara's body outside of the bedroom in the hallway, but there is blood spatter from Barbara's exit wound inside the bedroom,

which would have like exit wound would have been like kind of behind her if she's in the hall, not the bedroom,

or her body was moved. Like so the question is like if she's shot inside, how does she end up in the hallway or outside of the room?

And where exactly on her body was she shot? Her chest just to the left of center.

Okay, but listen, if you want to ignore all of the above, weird logistic things, everything happening so fast, heat of the moment, he doesn't remember, whatever, fine. Okay, let's just look at Barbara. So, according to Bobby's version of events, he pushes the door out of its frame. She comes advancing at him with the cocked gun in her right hand. He grabs a gun off his shelf, shoots, and hits her while she's still quote well inside his room. There is what they call the back spatter, which is like the blood material thrown from the bullet inside Bobby's room. But we know Barbara herself is found outside of the room. The gun is laying next to her hand. And honestly, listen, the position of her body could work. So, there's some blood on a wall across from Bobby's room that suggests that maybe she staggered back, like out of his room, hit the other wall before collapsing. But the state police at the time could not

figure out how to make sense of the gun if that is what happened. They're like, it makes more sense that she would have dropped the pistol either when she was shot

or even if she had held on to it, she would have dropped it when she hit the wall as she like staggered back. The weapon could have gone off at any point, but it didn't. And even if it didn't, it should not have landed next to her hand. Her right hand, by the way, the very right hand, which, oh, by the way, she physically couldn't have pulled a gun on him with. According to her daughter, Barbara's daughter told police that her mom recently had surgery on her right hand for carpal tunnel syndrome, and she wouldn't have been able to grip anything as heavy as a revolver in that hand.

What's more, when the police dust the gun that Barbara was allegedly holding for her prince, none come back.

So, she never even held it. Not so fast. Are you ready for a crime junkie first?

Always and never at the same time. I did not know that this was a thing until this case. But in this case, police talk with Barbara's doctors and they basically say, okay, yes, she had carpal tunnel syndrome, but they actually say she probably would have been able to hold a gun of that size and weight, whatever. So, that's not shocking. As far as her prints not being on it, they say that's actually not surprising either because apparently she had another condition where she could not leave fingerprints. What? I'm sorry.

I've No. What? I'm actually going to have you read this right from the prosecutor's motion to dismiss. It's wild. It says, "The victim was 59 years old. The skin of her right hand, according to her family doctor, was atrophied, tightly drawn, and very, very thin. In interviewing the victim's physicians, it was learned that she suffered from a medical condition known as reflex sympathetic distrophe of her right hand. One of the symptoms of this condition is a dimmonition and/or sessation of perspiration in the affected hand. Given this fact, the lack of the victim's fingerprints or smudges on the weapon she allegedly was holding at the time of her death is not a significant evidentiary datim. So legally aside and like medical jargon, Barbara couldn't secrete oils in her fingers to leave fingerprints.

I mean, not 100% of the time. So what that all means is that like this syndrome would make it less likely that she Yeah. would leave any fingerprints. Like it's not that it's not weird to them. They're like, "Yeah, she like she could touch something and not leave a print." That is bonkers.

I know. And it all really ends up working in Bobby's favor because even though he's been arrested and held on murder charges over the course of about a month, the special prosecutor that's brought in realizes that their case just isn't super solid.

I mean, how there was an ear witness, but so even that falls apart. investigators actually set up this experiment where they did a kind of sound test reenactment and they had one officer and Barbara's daughter listening on the phone at the bottom of the stairs and then they had two other officers like shout at each other in the basement and they found that very little could actually be heard. So they were basically like while the daughter didn't hear the mom go upstairs or hear Bobby yelling at her to put the gun down that doesn't prove that those things didn't happen. Okay. What about the tape that Barbara made saying that Bobby was going to kill her? You know, they don't even mention that in the court record. My thinking is like even though Barbara may have had a good reason to think that her life might have been danger. They were going through what sounds like a contentious divorce. And it even might

prove the opposite, that Barbara was already scared for her life and that she had reason to grab her gun to protect herself against Bobby. So, because they can't prove Bobb's lying about anything, the prosecution decides that they don't have enough evidence to win a trial against him for murdering his wife on purpose. And a little more than 6 weeks after the shooting, prosecutors dismiss all charges and they let him out of jail. Did they ever figure out if he really was having an affair?

Might have, but it's not in the few documents that are publicly available. And if they did, it didn't help them build their case, which as you can imagine was not very comforting to Barbara's children. Like, they are angry. And they start to rally the people in Fremont against Bobby. Like, how could they let this man who they all believe so clearly killed their mom just like get away? And it's important to mention that at the time, they didn't have the benefit of actually reading through the evidence like we can now.

The prosecution didn't have a case beyond a reasonable doubt to prove that Bobby definitely killed his wife in anything other than self-defense. But as far as everyone outside the investigation knows, Bobby's story is murky at best. And as a former homicide detective, they think he would definitely know how to stage a crime scene to make it look like a self-defense shooting. And to add fuel to the fire, 4 days after Bobby is let out of jail, dude wants his job back.

Uh, bold move. Yeah. The town board has to hold a vote to decide whether or not to give it to him. And this meeting draws a crowd.

Oh, I'm sure. People come out with what local reporters describe as torches and pitchforks. But despite this, just about 2 months after the shooting, the board votes 2 to one to reinstate him as the town marshal. And people are big mad. It's not like they can just elect someone new. The position of town marshall isn't elected. It's appointed by this board. And listen, I went down a rabbit hole on this like board and like some weird stuff. I think there might have been like something up going on there. I don't want to derail our episode, but I will do a short little video on social for anyone who wants to know what I found about this board makeup and what I think is a little sus, but anyways, the decision to reinstate Bobby ignites this firestorm. Literally, people are making threats against Bobby and someone even plants pipe bombs at the homes of two board members who were, I assume, like the two that voted for

his reinstatement. And both of these actually explode, though it's unclear if anyone got hurt. Now, people are so mad that a senior county official warns Bobby to leave town for his own safety. But Bobby's like, "Nah, I'm just going to sell the home. I'm going to move a little closer to town and get back to work. I'm going to be fine." But he is not fine. 5 months to the day that Barbara was shot, someone comes for Bobby and it is so clear that they're sending a message. On July 26th, 1988, Bobby gets off duty and guides his cruiser into the driveway of his new home at around 10:30 p.m. He gets out of the car and mounts the stairs up to a little side porch when suddenly a shot rings out. The first shot doesn't hit him, but a second bullet rips through Bobby's right shoulder and out through his left, cutting a clean path through his aorta and both lungs. He drops to the ground.

I mean, within minutes, he's dead. Now, this is a much more populated area than where he and Barbara lived just a few months ago. So, neighbors hear the gunshots and call police. Bobby is the one who would normally respond, but it's his deputy that arrives, then the Indiana State Police. Investigators eventually find two shell casings from a high-powered rifle in a vacant lot across the street. So, it sounds to me like whoever shot Bobby was probably laying in wait. And that could suggest that the killer knew Bobby's schedule well enough to know when he would be getting home. The current investigator on Bobby's case, Captain Kevin Smith, says that the fact that the killer missed the first shot doesn't say anything about their experience with a gun. He doesn't like to speculate about things like that because he says even if you're an experienced shot, shooting at a human is way different and like your

nerves can get in the way. I just keep coming back to 5 months to the day of when he shot Barbara. Like that feels like such a message.

It's not even just the day though. It's to the hour. Yeah. And this ends up being a critical clue for investigators. If the timing was intentional, which it sure feels like it was, then that tells them that whoever shot Bobby may have been avenging Barbara, and that is motive, folks. So, although there could be a long list of culprits, police pretty quickly have one person that they want to talk to most. Barbara's son, Samuel Sisler. I feel like we haven't talked about him at all. Yeah, there because there's nothing about him in the court documents for Barbara's case where he's mentioned, but I know he'd split his time between Fremont and Lafayette, which is like a town a couple of hours away. He was a new grad of the Indiana State Police, and so that's where he'd been stationed.

But come July, when Bobby is killed, he's actually in a whole different position. So, he had been dismissed from the Indiana State Police job in May. He was definitely in Fremont the night of the shooting. Someone saw him like 25 minutes before, but in the days after, no one can find him. All police can find is Sam's car, which is at his sister's property at Crooked Lake, which is like 15 minutes at the most from Fremont. So, rumors quickly swirl that Sam could be involved in Bobby's death.

Turns out Sam was in Colorado Springs. And when police do reach him, he's like, "Yeah, I'll talk, but later." But by the time he gets back to Indiana, seems like he's had a change of heart and he tells police basically to stuff it and he's not talking to them.

Him not wanting to help in the murder investigation of the guy who killed his mom. Like I don't know. I'm not shocked.

Yeah, I get it. But there is a lot that they would love to talk to him about. According to a local reporter, Mike Martello, Samuel had allegedly bought a long rifle at a local gun shop about 15 minutes away from Fremont, like 3 or 4 days prior to Bobby's shooting. Mike said that a couple of Fort Wayne TV news stations at the time reported this, but we could not independently confirm that. He also was said to have bought similar caliber ammunition as the bullet that killed Bobby. And again, this is just according to Mike. But when police got wind of this, they could not find the gun that Samuel allegedly bought. Still have not found anything like it to this day.

Were you able to find out why he got dismissed from the state police? Like, that feels important.

It sure does. I couldn't really get a straight answer. We tried though. So, the Southbend Tribune reported that he had been dismissed for quote unsatisfactorily completing his probation period end quote. We tried to get official records on this, but because it involved an internal affairs issue, we weren't able to confirm that. I of course asked Captain Smith and he said he couldn't comment on why he got dismissed, but I know he knows. Not just because he's the lead investigator. Now, in a weird twist made only for Hollywood, Captain Smith, who is now in charge of Bobby's cold case, he went to the academy with Samuel Sysler. Smith Sysler. They sat near each other in every class. They roamed right next door to one another. Graduated in the same class December 19th, 1987.

Samuel L. Sisler, Kevin W. Smith. Our reporter asked Mike like what he remembered from back then. Does he know why he got dismissed? and he did confirm the dismissal for us, but he said it's been a really long time and he's not totally sure, but he remembers the police telling him that Samuel was dismissed because he made comments about wanting revenge for his mom. Translation, he wanted to either hurt or kill Bobby. Captain Smith did say that it certainly seems like revenge is a motive here considering the timing of the shooting, but there's actually no real evidence that connects Samuel or anyone for that matter to the murder.

Captain Smith said it could be anyone. And we tried reaching out to Sam on two occasions, but we're not even sure if our contact information is correct because no one ever got back to us. Smith said that they've had a lot of leads in this case and they continue to follow up on them. Bobby was a cop. Cops make enemies and it could be anyone with reason to murder him. And you know, as we know, lots of people were angry with Bobby before he died.

Was there ever a definitive connection made between like the pipe bombs that were planted and exploded and his murder?

We asked that, too, but Captain Smith declined to comment on that. And I don't like this whole case. I don't know. Like for me, it it's lives in the gray area. Like Bobby's story is steeped in tragedy and it is so complicated because Bobby was far from a perfect victim,

right? But he was a victim. We all want justice. We want right and wrong to be super clear, but sometimes it's not.

He was ultimately cleared of murder. And to most people who knew him, Captain Smith said that Bobby was known as a peacekeeper, like this quiet, agreeable man. and murdering Bobby for whatever motive was wrong. I can feel it already. I think the comment section is going to light up. It's hard not to have an opinion on this case.

And I want you to have an opinion. I want you guys to tell us what you think. Keep it productive, but let's talk about it. What does this case make you feel? What does justice look like for Bobby? This case is personal for Captain Smith. I mean, he knew Bobby and Barbara. He knew Samuel. and he still wants a chance to talk to the guy that he roommed next door to. There are only a couple of unsolved police shootings in the state of Indiana and Bobby's is one of them. So, Captain Smith is determined to get to the truth. If you lived in Fremont, Indiana in July of 1988 and you know anything about the shooting of Bobby Moore, please reach out to the Indiana State Police cold case investigations at 1 8004534756 or you can reach out anonymously through Crimestoppers at crimetips.org.

You can find all the source material for this episode on our website crimejunkkey.com and you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkie podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?"?

Brandi Kruse (Host), Kevin Smith (Guest), Barbara Sysler (Guest), Barbara Schuford (Guest), Samuel Sisler (Guest), Tom (Guest), Barbara Jr. (Guest).

What is "Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?" about?

A complex real-life mystery spanning from a DC murder tied to a judge’s dying clues to small-town power struggles and domestic violence, culminating in a bungled investigation that leaves the question: who killed Bobby Moore? The tale threads mistaken identity, political intrigue, and a violent crime across Indiana and Washington, with a decades-long pursuit for answers.

What is mentioned in this Crime Junkie episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Bobby Moore, Crime Junkie, Barbara Sysler, Kevin Smith, Fremont, Indiana, Lewis A. Sysler. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Revenge, Vigilante Justice, or Something Else?"?

The episode runs 36 min; the transcript is about 6,668 words in 77 timestamped sections.

More from Crime Junkie

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated October 29, 2026.