Texas is full of small towns where everyone thinks they know everyone else’s business. Stephenville is one of those spots. Back in 1987, it was the kind of place where you didn't exactly expect a brutal, cold-blooded murder to happen on a quiet Tuesday. But it did. For nearly twenty years, the question of who killed Susan Woods hung over the town like a heavy, suffocating fog, tearing a family apart and leaving a husband under a cloud of suspicion that he didn't deserve.
Susan was only 30. She was a daughter, a friend, and a woman trying to navigate a separation from her husband, Michael Woods. On July 28, 1987, her father, Bill Ross, went to her house on West Long Street because he couldn't get a hold of her. What he found inside was a nightmare that no parent should ever see. Susan had been strangled, raped, and left in the bathtub. The scene was gruesome. It was personal. And for a long time, it looked like the killer was going to get away with it.
The Wrong Man in the Crosshairs
Police work in the 80s wasn't what it is today. No DNA databases. No digital footprints. Investigators relied on shoe leather, intuition, and, unfortunately, the most obvious suspect. In almost every domestic homicide, the husband is the first person you look at. Michael Woods was no exception.
The couple was estranged. That’s motive #1 in the police handbook. Michael had moved to Indianapolis, which gave him an alibi, but the local police weren't buying it. They thought he hired someone. Or maybe he drove back in secret. They grilled him. They pressured his friends. Even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the struggle in that bathroom, the community largely decided he was guilty. It’s a tragic side effect of unsolved crimes; the vacuum of information gets filled with gossip. Michael spent nearly two decades living as a pariah, losing his reputation and his peace of mind while the real monster remained free.
Honestly, the "tunnel vision" in this case is a textbook example of why cold cases stay cold. When you decide who did it before the evidence tells you, you stop looking for the person who actually left the fingerprints.
A Cold Case Heats Up
Fast forward to 2006. DNA technology had finally caught up to the brutality of the 1980s. The Stephenville Police Department, specifically Lieutenant Don Miller, decided to take another look at the evidence sitting in storage. It’s wild to think about—a small cardboard box containing the secrets to a twenty-year-old mystery.
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They had a latent fingerprint from the crime scene and a DNA profile from the biological evidence left on Susan. They ran the prints through AFIS (the Automated Fingerprint Identification System). For years, there had been no hits. But the thing about databases is that they grow. People get arrested for other things. Their prints get entered.
The computer beeped. A match.
It wasn't Michael Woods. It wasn't some hitman from out of state. The print belonged to a man named Joseph Scott Hatley.
Who was Joseph Scott Hatley?
Hatley wasn't a stranger to Susan, but he wasn't exactly a close friend either. He was a local guy. He knew her. In fact, he had actually been a person of interest early on because he lived nearby and had a reputation for being a bit "off." But back in '87, he had a girlfriend who gave him an alibi. The police, busy chasing Michael Woods, didn't push hard enough to break it.
By 2006, Hatley was living in Round Rock, Texas. When the cops showed up, he didn't put up a massive fight. The weight of what he’d done seemed to have settled in. Or maybe he just knew the science had finally trapped him.
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The details that emerged were chilling. Hatley had gone to Susan’s house. He claimed he wanted to talk, but things turned violent. He raped her. He killed her. Then, in a move that shows a truly disturbing level of calculation, he cleaned part of the scene to try and hide his tracks. He went on to live a relatively normal life for twenty years while Susan’s family suffered. He got married. He had a life. All while Michael Woods was being called a murderer in hushed tones at grocery stores.
The Shocking Confession
When Miller and the Texas Rangers interviewed Hatley, the truth finally poured out. He admitted to the murder. He described things that only the killer could know. It wasn't a crime of passion in the way people usually think—it was a crime of opportunity and predatory violence.
The most heartbreaking part of the discovery of who killed Susan Woods was the realization of how close he was the whole time. He didn't flee to another country. He was right there, hiding in plain sight in the Texas brush.
The Legal Resolution and the Aftermath
In 2006, Joseph Scott Hatley pleaded guilty to the murder of Susan Woods. Because of the laws in place at the time of the crime (1987), the sentencing was a bit different than what people might expect today. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
For the family, it was a bittersweet victory. Bill Ross, Susan’s father, had spent years wondering. Michael Woods finally received a formal apology from the police department—a rare thing in the world of law enforcement. Imagine carrying that weight for 19 years, knowing you're innocent but having the world look at you like a monster. Michael’s life was effectively ruined by the suspicion, and while the exoneration helped, you can't get those two decades back.
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Why This Case Still Matters
The Susan Woods case is often cited by true crime experts and forensic scientists for several reasons:
- The Power of Preservation: If the Stephenville police hadn't properly stored the evidence in 1987, the DNA would have degraded. This is a huge lesson for small-town departments: keep everything.
- The Danger of Alibis: Hatley’s girlfriend lied for him. It reminds us that an alibi is only as good as the person giving it.
- Exoneration is Just as Important as Conviction: Clearing Michael Woods was a moral necessity.
Lessons from Stephenville
If you’re a true crime buff or just someone interested in justice, the Susan Woods story is a reminder that the "obvious" answer is often wrong. It highlights the evolution of the Texas justice system and the dogged persistence of cold case investigators who refuse to let a victim be forgotten.
The tragedy didn't end with Hatley’s arrest. It left a scar on Stephenville. It changed how people viewed their neighbors. But it also proved that time doesn't necessarily hide the truth—it just waits for the technology to catch up.
How to Follow Cold Cases Effectively
If you're looking to dive deeper into cases like this or want to support the resolution of similar mysteries, here are the best steps to take:
- Support Organizations like the Innocence Project: They work specifically on cases where the wrong person (like Michael Woods almost was) is behind bars.
- Follow the Texas Rangers’ Cold Case Website: They maintain a public database of unsolved homicides. Public tips are often the "spark" that leads to a DNA re-test.
- Advocate for Evidence Preservation: Many jurisdictions still struggle with funding for the proper storage of biological evidence. Supporting local initiatives for forensic upgrades can literally solve murders decades later.
- Listen to Investigative Long-form Journalism: Podcasts like Gone Cold often cover Texas mysteries with a level of detail that brings new witnesses forward.
The story of Susan Woods ended in a courtroom in Erath County, but the lessons about "tunnel vision" and the persistence of forensic science remain incredibly relevant today. Hatley died in prison in 2015, taking any remaining secrets to his grave, but the truth of what happened on that July night is finally, officially, on the record.