“Freed To Kill” Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff’s Accomplice Confesses — It Is A Journey Into Darkness Episode 6 Season 1

Triple killer Kenneth McDuff was on the run.

The mother of the psychopath knew where he was but she wasn’t talking.

So the fugitive hunters rounded up the usual suspects from an underworld of excons in Central Texas.

They found McDuff’s prison sex punk, Billy Earl.

Crudely made black prison tattoos covered the obese excon from head to toe.

The marshals called Billy Earl maggot.

It didn’t take them long to persuade Billy Earl to give up the name of McDuff’s running buddy. An excon.

34-year-old Alva Hank Worley.

Investigators discovered that Kenneth McDuff’s beer-drinking buddy was Alva Hank Worley.

The 34-year-old ex-con was a petty thief and habitual drug user.

The pudgy bearded construction worker carried a 12-pack of beer everywhere he went.

The trail to Worley led U.S. Marshals to a flea-bag, rat-infested motel in Central Texas.

Every night, U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston and marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara rolled into the parking lot of Bloom’s Motel in their war wagon called “Big Foot”.

They rousted Worley out of bed and peppered him with questions about his association with McDuff.

Parnell McNamara calls the tactic “driving them up”.

Parnell McNamara

McNamara: We were down in Bell County which is one of McDuff’s main stomping grounds, Temple, Belton all that in there. And we were going – we’re paying a visit to all of his buddies that were with him in TDC, his old prison buddies. We were laying it on them pretty hard, read between the lines. Finally, one of them told us about Hank Worley that he had been running with a guy named Hank Worley. So, we found Worley at Blooms Motel, just south of Belton. So we paid Worley a visit.

Riggs: That place is a real dump.

McNamara: It’s a trash pit. You know you almost have to have a four-wheel drive to drive across a parking lot or you fall in a crevasse.

Riggs: Yes. Yeah.

McNamara: And just a rat hole.

Riggs: You couldn’t believe people lived in there.

McNamara: It was so appropriate for Worley to be living in such a rat hole. So we paid Worley a visit.

Riggs: And he’s an ex-con.

McNamara: He’s an ex-con. He’s living there with his 14-year-old daughter. So Worley won’t tell us anything. You know he knows McDuff but he won’t tell us anything. So we paid him a visit the next night. So we started paying him a visit, banging on his door almost every night at midnight. We would sit on the parking lot shine our floodlights into his room just trying to get his attention. And we felt like we came real close to him confessing and then he would clam up. So, one night, we were on the old Dallas highway where much of these sorry beer joints are. And there was a place out there called… I’m trying to think of the name of it. Anyway, I’ll probably remember in a minute.

Riggs: Oh yeah.

McNamara: But we went in that thing because we heard that McDuff had been in there. So we go in and talk to the woman that’s running it. And she says, “Well, McDuff hadn’t been in here in a long time but there’s a fellow out there drinking beer that McDuff used to work for.” And I said, “Really?” And so, we had him come in the office. He said, “Yeah, McDuff used to pour concrete for me, but haven’t seen him in a good while.” But I asked him about Hank Worley, he said, “Yeah. Hank Worley is working for me now.” So we explained to him that we felt like Hank Worley was a prime suspect, just by the way he was acting and maybe one of these murders. And he said, “I will talk to Hank this weekend when I go back to Temple.”

Deputy sheriff Tim Steglich had also turned up the heat on Worley.

You may recall from earlier episodes that Steglich took the missing persons report from McDuff’s mother, three days after Melissa Northrup vanished from a Waco convenience store.

It was a ploy by his so called pistol pack’in mama to cover up McDuff’s sudden disappearance.

By this time, the U.S. Marshals have connected McDuff to Northrup’s kidnapping and that of Colleen Reed from an Austin car wash.

So Worley was wearing down. I was talking to him twice a week, three times a week, and he never asked for an attorney. And when suspects act like that, you put pressure. You put a massive amount of pressure on him.

Worley broke under the pressure. The excon called Steglich to come meet him.

And so came the day when Hank – I don’t remember if Hank called me at the Sheriff’s Office. I believe it was Hank and he said he wanted to talk to me. And at the time, he was living at the glorious Bloom’s Motel in Belton and …

Riggs: You smile as you say glorious, a real dump.

Tim: It’s horrible. It’s just horrible. And you would expect Hank to be living at a place like that. Unfortunately, his 15-year-old daughter was living there with him. So Hank said he wanted to talk to me. And so I pulled up at Bloom’s Motel and Hank comes over to the passenger side door before I can get out which kind of troubled me. And he opens the door and he said, “I was with McDuff when he took that woman from the carwash.”

I said, “OK, Hank.” I said, “Don’t say anything else right now.” He said, “I got to ask you a favor.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “I’d like to go tell my daughter goodbye because I might not ever see her again.”

I let Hank walked away from me to his daughter. She was outside of course. And he goes over to her and probably did not tell her much about what was happening. And then he came back to the car and he was a different person. He had really settled down after I allowed him to talk to his daughter.

And so, that’s when it started.

Worley waived his right to an attorney.

Tim Steglich questioned Worley at the Bell County sheriff’s department in belton. Steglich is a master of the interrogation room.

Good investigators know how to read body language and nuances in how their subjects answer questions.

Dan Stoltz who led the marshals task force says Steglich broke the Colleen Reed kidnapping case wide open.

DS: Tim is a good investigator. Tim was able to make him feel comfortable. Tim was able to read his body language and Tim was able to tell him, “Look, there are times …” and this is – I’m getting second-hand, but there are times where Tim said, “Quit shaking so much, you got to come clean.” And touched them. And I think that human touch flipped him over.

Worley made and signed three statements about the McDuff’s kidnapping of Colleen Reed from an Austin car wash.

The first statement started at 5:45 p.m. on April 20, 1992.

Worley tried to downplay his part in the kidnapping and sexual assault. He claimed to be a mere spectator.

Worley started a second statement at 3:55am the next morning.

In it, Worley admitted more responsibility for the crime.

Three days later, Worley took a ride with investigators to retrace the route of the kidnapping.

He gave a third statement with more incriminating details.

Worley’s confessions are disturbing. Not just because of the graphic details of sadistic torture and rape, but because of how casually he describes the last hours of Colleen Reed’s life.

In a few moments, you will hear an abbreviated version of Worley’s statements.

Out of respect for Colleen Reed’s memory, her family, and this audience, i have deleted profane language and graphic descriptions.

McDuff is no ordinary serial killer. While some men play golf or video games for fun. Or make football and baseball their pastimes, McDuff made a sport out of sadistic torture and murder.

Tim: He was so good at disposing of the bodies. He went to a lot of trouble. Most serial killers aren’t going to dig a grave. He did not want the bodies found. Some serial killers do. He did want any notoriety. This is what he did for fun and he didn’t want to get caught

During the confession that you are about to hear, Worley refers to McDuff as mac. His prison buddies called him big mac.

If you do not want to hear the confession read, now is the time to stop.

My name is Alva Hank Worley. I am 34 years of age. I have already given statements to investigator Steglich and others about my knowledge and involvement with Kenneth McDuff and the female at the car wash in Austin.

Back in December, about two or three days after Christmas, Kenneth McDuff pick me up at my sister's house she lives at the S&S mobile home park west of Belton, Texas. I was living there at that time, also.

It was 6 or 7 at night when he picked me up. We decided to go to Austin to get some coke or crank. The only place I knew to get that was near or at the University. I suggested to Mac that we go by the

U. T. Campus. Mac drove downtown instead of going to the campus. I did not ask him why, I figured we would wind up back over there.

We drove around and finished up our beer and we got something to eat at the Dairy Queen on Congress. We sat there and ate. Mac drove down around 6th Street, and he drove around a car wash that is near 6th. It was one street south of sixth.

He drove around the car wash twice. I noticed someone washing their car in one of the bays. This was the only person at the car wash. The car was a small light color car. Mac pulled into one of the bays, facing the main road. I thought he was going to wash the car, and get rid of the empty beer bottles.

Mac did not say anything, he just got out of the car, and walked over to the next stall, where the only other person at the car wash was. I heard his voice, but I could not hear what he said. I did not hear anyone else.

Immediately after I heard his voice, Mac came back and he had a girl by the throat and her hands behind her back. I think he had one hand on her throat, and one holding her hands. I could hear her gurgling, and she was pleading with him.

She was saying, please not me, not me. She was kicking back, but her feet were off the ground. He had left the driver side door open, and he carried her to that side of the car. He was having trouble getting her into the back seat, and he told me something. I don't remember what it was he said. I am not sure if I helped put him put her into the car, but I might have. She was saying, please let me go, please don't let this happen to me.

I think I was outside the passenger side door. Mac told me to get in and hold her. I got in the back seat and held her wrists, and pushed her against the side of the car.

As we left the parking lot of the car wash, Mac went the wrong way on the street that runs in front of the car wash.

She was telling me not to let him hurt her.

Mac kept north on the Interstate till about Round Rock, and pulled over on the shoulder of the Interstate.

He got into the back seat with the kid, and he told me to drive. Mac hit her several times in the head when he first got in the back with her.

He took off all his clothes. I think he laid her down and got on top of her.

She scratched Mac’s eyes. He said, She tried to hurt me real bad. He slapped her and she said okay, okay. Mac tied her hands behind her. He used a white string or cord.

He lit a cigarette and burned her with it. She made a real agonizing moan when he did that. He made some threat to her about not acting right.

As we got into Salado, Mac was putting on his clothes. As we headed north, out of Salado, Mac asked me where we were. I was near a road sign that said Amity Road, and I told him Amity Road. He told me to pull over, and I started to pull over on the Interstate, and he told me to pull over on the service road.

As I approached a median that is between the service road and Amity, Mac said he was going to get rid of the girl. This surprised me, and I look back at Mac, and I remember almost hitting the median. Mac told me to watch where in the hell I was going, and I swerved, missing the median.

I pulled over on the service road, just north of Amity, and Mac told me to get in the back. I did this, and Mac drove. I tried to settle the girl down, and she told me to stay back there with her to keep Mac away from her. I took off all my clothes.

I finished having sex with her by the time we got into Belton. I had my clothes back on by the time we got to the 6th Street exit. Mac exited at 6th Street in Belton, and drove to Highway 317. Mac drove north on 317 several miles. He turned to the right on a gravel road. He told me it was the old road that ran to his daddy’s house before the put the new one in.

I stayed in the backseat with her. She stayed pretty calm with me back there with her. After we got to the gravel road, Mac stopped the car facing west on the gravel road. You'd have to turn the car around to end up going that way on the road.

I had been holding her close to me, so I was not able to pay attention to exactly how he drove in. I had been talking to her, and I asked her what kind of work she did, and I think she told me she was an accountant, or a public accountant, or something like that.

She might have said she worked for the city. She said she lived in an apartment. I think she said she was twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. I got to where I was liking the girl pretty good at that time.

Mac got out and took his shirt off. He reached in the car, and grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her out. She did not say anything. He pulled his pants down about to his knees.

He put her on the hood of the car, over on the driver’s side. She was sitting up. He was standing near the front tire. He had her legs on either side.

He then grabbed her by the hair of the head, and jerk her off the car. He put her on her knees. She was on her knees facing the car door. I am not sure but I think she did something to make him mad. He said I'll kill you bitch.

He pulled his hand all the way behind himself, and he hit her so hard I heard a loud pop or crack. It almost sounded like a big tree breaking. I was sure he broke her neck. She fell backwards toward the weeds, and her head bounced off the ground. She did not move at all. Her whole body was limp. I think she was dead at that point.

I had been standing at the back of the car on the driver’s side. Mac was out of control. I could not believe what he had done. I told him he should have let her go. He reached back in the car and got a cigarette and my lighter. He had a good fire on the end of it and he put it on or in her. He did that three or four times. She did not move or scream. Every time he did that he would take a hit off the cigarette to get a good fire on the end of it. The last time he put the cigarette in her, I did not see the cigarette after that.

Mac picked her up by the hair, and walked her over to the trunk, and he put her in. Mac told me he was going to “use her up”. I knew he was going to kill her. I told him he should let her go, and he said she would cause him more shit than you can imagine. Mac put his clothes on after he put her in the trunk.

Mac told me we were in this together and I had better keep my goddamn mouth shut. He had walked over to me after he put the girl in the trunk. He had a tire tool that he had stuck in his jeans after he had gotten dressed. He pulled the tire tool on me, and told me to keep my damn mouth shut.

We started driving back to my sister's house, and Mac drove the back way, down the road by Belton High School. As we got pretty close to my sister's house, Mac asked me if I had a knife. I told him I did not know where my knife was.

Then, he said he needed a shovel to get rid of her. I told him I did not have a shovel. He said he thought he knew where he could get a shovel, and I think he meant from his father. I knew he was going to bury her.

There is one point I need to get clear about when Mac put her in the trunk of his car. He picked her up by the hair, and he carried her dangling off the ground. She did not make any noise at all. All the way back to my sister's house, I did not hear any noise from the trunk or back of the car.

This statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Investigator Steglich has typed this statement with my permission.

Signed Hank Worley.

Tim Steglich

Deputy Tim Steglich drove Worley back to the crime scene where he last saw Colleen Reed alive.

Tim: Hank at that point was fairly relieved. He had confessed. He had taken this everywhere we needed to go. I think that was one of the last locations that he took us to because he said he did not know where the body was and he probably didn’t, because I know that McDuff in the back of his mind knew that, “Roy Dale Green talked, this one is going to talk. If they can’t find the body, they can’t do anything to me.”

As you heard in the confession, Alva Hank Worley never lifted a finger to help Colleen Reed.

Steglich says Worley showed no remorse. None.

Tim: That’s one thing that troubled me about Hank. He wished it hadn’t happened. But that’s about it.

Sadistic torture was performance art for Kenneth McDuff. His accomplices provided an audience.

It’s rare to get an eyewitness account of the depraved behavior of a sadistic sexual serial killer like McDuff.

Parnell McNamara says the confession still haunts him.

McNamara: I remember practically every word. Yes. I will never forget it. Because that night when he told us in detail, finally broke down what they had done to that poor girl and how much pain she was in and using a whole pack of cigarettes on her, burning her horribly and just everything else. We put Worley in jail. And I can remember driving back to Waco from Bell County and tears started rolling down my face. And I’m thinking, you know, maybe I’m not a tough cop. This is tearing me up, just knowing what that poor girl just went through.

And I just – I can remember it was very emotional after hearing and standing in the same hayfield where they did this to her, at the same time at night. And you could just feel the terror that she was going through knowing that she was probably at the end of all this be killed. And at that point, I’m sure that she wanted to go ahead and end it because of what they were doing to her. And yeah, I remember every word that lowlife Worley wrote.

Worley’s confession shocked Austin’s laid back culture. Author Gary Lavergne says McDuff committed the unthinkable.

Austin had never had torture, kidnapping, torture, brutalization by a serial sexual sadist. It was something that you might have heard about in California or in New York or someplace but not in Austin, not even in Texas.

Texas has a lot of gun violence and so forth. But this wasn’t even that. This was just pure brutality. And when it was made public, it traumatized the city.

Three decades later, Bill Johnston says he still wakes up from bad dreams about Worley’s confession.

Bill Johnston interview

about six months ago, I had a horrible nightmare. I had a dream that I was in a – I don’t know if it was at a prison or if I don’t – it might have been a prison, it might have been like a detective’s bay sort of a squad room looking thing. And McDuff was in there, Parnell, I think Mike, and the officers who were wearing their pistols, and McDuff got the trap on us and he grabbed someone’s pistol and it was a worst nightmare. It was a feeling. It was a feeling of hopeless, dread, having no control over the situation, and it bothered me for days. I could not get it out of my mind. Usually, I forget a dream or nightmare pretty quickly. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

And I hate to think I’m just now realizing that’s probably what Colleen Reed thought. But there are people like McDuff and McDuff particularly, if he ever gets to drop on you, you’re done. And it’s not just that he would kill you. It’s what would happen before he killed you. I just thought of that. But it was terrible. It was a terrible, terrible nightmare.

Next on True Crime Reporter. The marshals nationwide manhunt for serial killer Kenneth McDuff leads to a garbage truck in Kansas City.

John Moriarty

John Moriarty: Yeah. Well, we are in the office and I remember Danny Stoltz coming in and say, “Hey, we got a lead up in Kansas City and it’s looking pretty good.” And he supposedly got picked up on a prostitution sting but it was a ticket where they just put his thumb down on a back of a ticket or something and then he can go to jail. They issued him a citation for soliciting a prostitute.

To follow True Crime Reporter.

Text true crime to 33777. Text true crime to 33777.

McNamara: I said, “Pull the jet in the hangar because I don’t want to be exposed when we put him on the plane.” So he pulled the jet in the hangar. We put him on the plane and then we taxied out of the hangar and took off. And I can just remember the sight out of the window of that airplane seeing all that media, all those TV cameras and reporters lined up on that chain linked fence at the airport as we took off. And so, then when we got into Waco the pilot said, “Marshal, you need to come up here and see this.” So, I got up in the cockpit and there was a huge crowd at the airport where you were.

Riggs: Yeah.

McNamara: I don’t know 50, 75 people were there. And some of them were yelling at him. So we had to put him in the back of a sheriff’s car, and I sat on one side and I can’t remember who was on the other side maybe – I know it wasn’t Mike because Mike was following us in his suburban in Big Foot. So, we were afraid that we were going to get shot on the way to the courthouse because of these threats, because so many people want to kill this guy.

And so, we had to run almost all the red lights. And we had the sheriffs in front of us, maybe a police unit. But there were probably 10 or 15 police cars in that caravan going to the federal courthouse. So once we got there, that’s where the huge crowd was. And it had – it could have been 100, 150 people or more and they were screaming and cursing this guy. And it was unbelievable. And now, you know this guy that we have been chasing ad trying to catch all this time now we had to protect this lowlife SOB from the crowd and get him into the courthouse and get him magistrated.