Season two of 'Ozarks True Crime' podcast explores Feeney family murders

Over two years ago, journalist Anne Roderique-Jones visited Springfield to research the Three Missing Women for her first podcast. Since its release, the podcast has been downloaded more than 1.6 million times. This summer, Roderique-Jones returned to explore another Ozarks case.

The second season of Roderique-Jones' podcast series, "Ozarks True Crime," is about the Feeney family murders. The eight-episode season tells the story of the triple homicide of Cheryl, Tyler and Jennifer Feeney in February 1995. Jon Feeney, Cheryl's husband and Tyler and Jennifer's father, was identified as the prime suspect but was eventually acquitted. The first two episodes of the second season were released on audio streaming platforms on Tuesday.

A Springfield native, Roderique-Jones was 12 years old when Stacy McCall, Suzanne "Suzie" Streeter and Sherrill Levitt went missing on June 6, 1992. Only three years after the disappearances, news broke about the Feeney family killings. Roderique-Jones recalled the discussion around this case as a "less poignant memory" than the Three Missing Women.

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"This seemed to be a little bit quieter," Roderique-Jones said. "The community, as a whole, wanted to find (the Three Missing Women). Everyone kind of felt that they were these upstanding citizens, they were two young girls who just graduated and had their lives before them, so I think the consensus as a community was, 'We have to find these women.' I think with Jon Feeney, you have identified victims ... which is unimaginable. I think it was more, 'Did he do it or didn't he?' The community came a little bit divided, whether it was him or whether it wasn't him."

Today, 27 years later, the Feeney family murders remain less popularly known.

"There wasn't a lot done on the Feeneys, so I think that's what actually intrigued me the most about it — being able to tell a story that hadn't been covered as extensively and certainly not extensively on a podcast," she said.

Sitting down with the woman who found Cheryl, Tyler and Jennifer

One of the key sources featured in season two of "Ozarks True Crime" is a woman named Teresa, who wished to only be addressed by her first name. Teresa was a friend of Cheryl's from work and the one who identified the three bodies during the initial police visit to the Feeney household.

When Cheryl did not arrive to work on time on Monday, Feb. 27, 1995, Teresa became worried, as this was unusual. Teresa took it upon herself to visit the Feeney household, where she found the front door unlocked and the home in a disarray. She called 911 and was with the police officer when he discovered the bodies in their respective bedrooms.

Listeners will hear from Teresa in the majority of episode one, "A Triple Homicide in the Ozarks."

In addition to Teresa, other key sources in the podcast's first two episodes include former News-Leader reporters Ron Davis and Robert Keyes and former Homicide Major Case Investigator Rita Sanders.

"Some local journalists, like Ron Davis, just gave me a ton of documents because he was covering this case extensively at the time," Roderique-Jones said. "He presented me with this really amazing binder full of things that was like winning the journalist jackpot right there."

In later episodes, listeners will hear from those who were part of the family, like Cheryl's mother Lynn Hasch.

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Roderique-Jones said she reached out to both Jon and his attorney during his case, Shawn Askinosie. Neither returned her requests for participating in the podcast.

Roderique-Jones said she and her team worked hard to avoid sensationalism when it came to retelling the Feeney family murder story. At the end of the day, they were trying to answer one question: "Is (Jon) a killer that escaped these consequences or is he an innocent man who's suffered from this unimaginable loss?"

"Ozarks True Crime" was produced by editaudio, a podcast production company. In the following weeks, a new episode of season two will be released each Tuesday. Episodes vary in length from 20-30 minutes. Potential listeners should be advised that Roderique-Jones includes a trigger warning for murder and violence against children at the start of each episode.

The Feeney family murder case

Cheryl, 35, and her children, six-year-old Tyler and 18-month-year-old Jennifer, were found dead in their home at 1993 W. Nottingham St. on Feb. 27, 1995. Cheryl and Tyler died from multiple wounds to their faces and necks and Jennifer was found with a blinds cord tied around her neck.

Two days earlier, Jon left Springfield for a high school teacher science conference at Tan-Tar-A Estates at Lake of the Ozarks. Jon was a chemistry teacher at Glendale High School and spoke at the conference.

According to previous News-Leader reporting, despite his statement of being absent from Springfield during the time of his family's murders, Jon was identified as the police's only suspect. In 1996, he was arrested on three murder charges and eventually took the case to trial where he was found not guilty.

Season one of "Ozarks True Crime" is titled, "The Springfield Three: A Small-Town Disappearance." The season includes 11 episodes that are about 30 minutes. Season one, released from May to November 2021, is available for listening on audio streaming platforms.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: 'Ozarks True Crime' podcast explores Feeney family murders in season 2