Who Murdered The Newlyweds?

Student Journalists Re-Open A Case That Was Thought Solved

(CBS)  The Northwestern students didn’t know it at the time, but Michale Callahan, a seasoned investigator, also would conclude that the men in prison for the murders were innocent.

Callahan’s career with the Illinois State Police spanned nearly two and a half decades. He was promoted three times over the years, and in 2000, made lieutenant. He was asked to review the Paris murder investigation shortly before 48 Hours was to air a program about it.

He had no idea what he was getting into. "This is by far the worst investigation I’ve ever seen," he says.

In the case file, Callahan says he found hundreds of contradictions or problems: "Evidence or information or leads that weren’t followed that should’ve been followed. Again, contradictions of what people said in these reports."

Including serious questions - questions the students also had raised - about the real motive for the murders.

"The case file basically said that this was over a bad drug deal. It wasn’t over drugs. I mean, you look at Dyke and Karen. They had $200 in their savings account at the time of their deaths. They’re not major narcotics traffickers by any means," says Callahan.

Like the students, Callahan was interested in those stories of what Karen may have stumbled on at work -- not just large sums of money that seemed out of place, but also a machine gun.

Callahan wondered if someone at Karen's job knew something about the murders.

Karen had told family and friends that she had seen something in the parking lot at work, something that made her afraid and she was thinking about quitting her job.

But if Karen did see money and a machine gun, what did it mean? Was there any connection to where she worked? To find out would take a new investigation.

But Callahan says that in 2000, no one in the state police was welcoming a new investigation and that in fact, when he tried to pursue one, his superiors yanked the rug out from under him.

"I was told that I could not reopen the Rhoads case. That it was too politically sensitive. I could not touch it," he says.

No one ever explained to Callahan what "too politically sensitive" meant.

Callahan says he tried to get the case reopened five separate times.

Why Callahan's investigation was blocked never was clear. In 2003, he was transferred out of investigations, and that ended his pursuit of the Paris murders for good.

But Callahan refused to give up. Instead, he sued the state police, claiming they had transferred him to shut him up, not only about the Rhoads murders, but also about reports he’d made to internal affairs, alleging inappropriate conduct by superiors.

The case against the state police went to federal court. He argued that his superiors muzzled him, and violated his right to free speech, in part because he was trying to investigate any possible connections between what Karen saw at work and the murders.

Callahan, now retired, found his vindication in 2005, when he was awarded $360,000. A jury agreed that he had been punished for just trying to do his job.

"People come to us for the truth," says Callahan. "We should always try to do the right thing."

"It's my opinion that they were framed," Callahan says.

But fortunes were about to change, with a development that the students, the cop, and the prisoners all worked long and hard for and never thought they’d see.