Janice Dodson stages husband Bruce's murder as accident

Investigator William Booth said it best when he called Janice Dodson a 'greedy assassin'. Her cold and calculated murder of her husband Bruce was a violation of everything most people consider moral. With murder-for-profit on her mind, Janice faked everything decent she felt for Bruce – she lied to him, his family, and even her own family. It takes a cunningly evil mind to proffer and perpetuate the endless fabrications she kept up between deciding to kill Bruce and committing the callous act.

An accidental shooting might've been a compelling cover story if Janice had been a better shot. But once the second and then third bullets were fired, Janice's plan changed. No longer could a hunter seem to have been shot accidentally if he had multiple bullet wounds. With investigators ruling out an accident, Janice was left to hope the murder couldn't be pinned on her. But accident or not, the multiple insurance policies and her behavior after her husband's funeral plainly pointed to Janice as the likely (and only) suspect.

Analyses at the crime scene

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Investigators did an admirable job examining the shooting of Bruce Dodson in 1995. Between their determination of where the shooter likely perched to finding the bullet from Janice's initial shot, police had a good idea of how Bruce's murder occurred.

I was interested in the analysts' determining factors when evidence was found to be 'fresh'. It was believed the bullet hole through the fencepost was recent. What were the signals? Was the wood that was splintered and broken away absent of weathering? Perhaps it was fairly recent, but could investigators genuinely tell that the bullet hole was mere days ago instead of weeks or even months? The same goes for the .308 bullet that was traced from the fencepost to its resting place. A recently-fired bullet will likely appear very different from an older bullet, but I think it'd be difficult to discern a day-old bullet from another that hasn't been outside very long.

These are the shots as described around the episode's three-minute mark:

• Shot 1: Went through Bruce's hunting vest and grazed his back.
• Shot 2: Entered Bruce's chest and exited under his right arm.
• Shot 3: Entered Bruce's back at an upward trajectory and came to rest in his lung.

Initially, the only round recovered was the third shot from Bruce's lung – this was the bullet believed to be a .243 caliber. Toward the end of the episode, it was stated that Janice's third shot hit the fence post. This sheared off the round's copper jacket, and the bullet's core penetrated Bruce's back, finally killing him.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Investigators used a string between Bruce's body and the fence post to estimate where Janice had been lying in wait. A .308 shell casing was found about 80 yards from the fencepost. In an attempt to locate either the stray shot or the through-and-through round, the path was followed from Janice's perch, through Bruce's location, and beyond. Sure enough, a .308 round was located. This was likely the initial, errant shot taken by Janice since the bullet showed no signs of having penetrated a person.

With all the .308 caliber evidence, the .243 round found in Bruce was troubling. Were there two guns? Two shooters? Then it was Investigator Booth's epiphany that finally pointed to the .308 round losing its copper jacket and ending up looking like a .243 round. Was this such an odd, rare event that the potential misidentification of a jacketless .308 bullet as a .243 had never occurred before? At least determining the bullet from Bruce's lung was a .308 simplified the investigation.

How did the autopsy reveal the shots to Bruce were from a 'significant distance'? A shot from very close could've left stippling on Bruce's skin, but this wasn't the case. Knowing the muzzle velocity of a bullet fired from a .308 rifle might help determine the bullet's speed when it hit Bruce, but were these detail discernable from his autopsy?

J.C. Lee's role in Bruce Dodson's murder

Janice was diabolical in her plan to murder Bruce that fateful Sunday in October 1995. She knew using one of her own guns (or one of Bruce's) would be traceable  to her. She also knew her ex-husband's annual ritual of hunting in the Uncompaghre National Forest. Whether Janice attempted to frame J.C. Lee for Bruce's murder or just needed access to a less-traceable weapon is uncertain. But she certainly had a motive to frame J.C. Lee.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It was shared that J.C. and Janice had at least one daughter together (research shows they had two children during their 25-year marriage, a boy and a girl). Furthermore, we learned that Janice divorced J.C. Lee after he began dating one of their daughter's friends. I had to rewind to make sure I'd heard this part correctly, and it made me think. My initial suspicion was that their daughter and her friend were approximately the same age. This would've made J.C. old enough to be his new fling's father. But was it possible Janice's daughter had a friend who was quite a bit older? When I was young and working, I had friends from work who were markedly older than me.

I'm not sure it would've mattered who J.C. Lee had begun to date – the idea of dating someone new while you're still married is plenty of cause for Janice to file for a divorce. The idea that this was one of your own daughter's friends adds insult to this turn of events. If an item from murderpedia.org is to be believed, J.C. Lee's new fling was a friend of their daughter's from school – a young lady named Pam. It also seems Janice 'swore revenge' on J.C. for embarrassing her.

Half a million motives

'Follow the money' works for more than investigating political corruption – it's often a tool for criminal investigators to identify a motive. In Janice's case, multiple insurance policies on Bruce's life strongly signaled her motivation for his demise. Janice amassed three different payoffs for Bruce's death without initially raising suspicion. But she had to believe someone was going to raise an eyebrow when she went to cash-in these policies. She'd apparently obtained at least two of these policies without Bruce's knowledge – something I'd think would be difficult in 1995, and since most policies require a physical examination. In the late 1970s, E. Lee White and his cronies were able to obtain NINE different policies on their mark, Frankie Pullian. To satisfy the doctors' physicals, co-conspirators simply stood in for Frankie, and few-if-any questions were asked.

Janice Dodson was busy in the three months between her marriage to Bruce and his murder. Assuming she didn't initiate obtaining the policies before their marriage, securing three in three months was unlikely easy. And had Bruce become aware of his value if killed, especially if his death was an accident, he'd certainly have had second thoughts about a hunting trip.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It's interesting to consider how committed to her relationship a black widow like Janice might have been, and comparing this to how committed to her target's murder she was. Did Janice have second thoughts at any time before or during her marriage as she was putting her plan in motion? Or did she execute her plot with no looking back? Did Janice rehearse how she'd react once she 'discovered' Bruce's body out in the Uncompaghre National Forest?

In the case of Lynn Turner, her murder of second husband Randy Thompson did not require rehearsing her reaction. She'd already gotten away with the murder of her first husband Glenn Turner five years prior. Of course, choosing to kill using ethylene glycol in both instances wasn't entirely smart. Pre-internet, Lynn attempted to learn what veterinarians used to euthanize cats. But when an alternative means of poisoning her spouse wasn't readily available, antifreeze again seemed like a logical choice.

And black widows aren't always female. Consider David Davis who murdered his wife Shannon Mohr just months after their marriage. Staging his wife's death to look like an accident, Davis stood to gain over $300k from her life insurance policy. And the fact pattern that led to their marriage in late-1979 demonstrated that Davis wasn't looking for a wife, but rather a victim. He'd been wooing multiple women and plainly sought a rapid courtship culminating in marriage. And Shannon Mohr was the unfortunate one who fell for all of Davis's deceptions.

At least don't act guilty...

For those questioning Janice's role in her husband's murder, alarm bells rang after Bruce's funeral. Investigator Dave Martinez described how Janice unceremoniously discarded her late husband's ashes on the side of a road. She told investigators that she planned to spend time with her cousin in east Texas to grieve. But a look at Janice's financial records showed her time was spent gambling in Louisiana instead. And according to Bruce's brother Micheal, Janice wasted no time discarding everything Bruce owned after his funeral. She even had his dog put to sleep.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Every person grieves in their own way. But there are rational behaviors to expect from the grief-stricken, and then there are irrational behaviors. Consider the episode Where the Blood Drops (s06e21). While it might be expected a widow would repaint the bedroom in which her husband shot himself, one wouldn't expect the event would be a 'painting party', nor that it'd occur mere hours after the victim's body was removed. But this was the case with Susie Mowbray's murder of her husband Bill. She'd been embezzling money from Bill Mowbray's business, and the auditors finally came calling.

Our episode cited that Janice got remarried 'soon after' her husband Bruce's murder. But the math between Bruce's murder (October 1995) and her marriage to Bart Hall (November 1996) shows this span to be over a year. For some, the grieving process is long, but an entire year doesn't seem egregiously short for someone to move on.

Janice Dodson's murder case

A map was shared a couple of times during the episode. This indicated the various points of interest in the case: The Dodson's campsite, J.C. Lee's campsite, and the site of Bruce's murder. Also on the map, which was distinctly indicated as 'not to scale', was the site of fellow camper Doug Kyle. This location was the furthest marker from the murder site – yet it was Doug Kyle who came to Janice's aid when he heard her screams after she 'found' Bruce's body.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

NecroSearch has played a role in several episodes of Forensic Files. The eclectic group of volunteers represents various scientific disciplines, and they apply their expertise in locating covert burial sites and discovering evidence. With the area covered in snow for six months out of the year, investigators' search for the rifle Janice used to kill Bruce was hindered. For three consecutive summers, investigators camped in the area and searched for the .308 caliber rifle. One trip included a NecroSearch volunteer, who made the crucial discovery of bentonite clay lining the stock pond between the Dodson's and J.C. Lee's campsites. This clay doesn't occur naturally and was rarely found in the Uncompaghre National Forest. The dried bentonite clay on Janice's jeans was further physical evidence linking Janice Dodson to J.C. Lee's stolen rifle.

How and where Janice Dodson disposed of her ex-husband's .308 rifle remains unknown. Despite the mistakes Janice made (shooting Bruce multiple times, leaving a trail of insurance fraud, and her suspicious behavior), she managed to successfully conceal the not-entirely-proverbial 'smoking gun'.

Where is Janice Dodson now in 2024?

By October 1998, police had enough evidence to give them a good shot at a conviction, and Janice Dodson was arrested. She went on trial in early-2000 and was convicted of Bruce's murder. On March 20, 2000, Janice Dodson received life in prison without parole. Janice is 72 years old and is incarcerated at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility.