The investigation into the unsolved murder of a lauded Chicago filmmaker sucked into a bizarre cult has gained fresh momentum after the death of an allegedly key player in the crime spurred a witness to come forward.
"This has breathed new life into the case," Cheyenne, Wyo., police Lt. Jeff Schulz said.
Last month, investigators spoke over a few days to Julia Williams, the best friend of Linda Greene, a cult leader who married Chicago experimental filmmaker Allen Ross in the early 1990s.
Ross disappeared in late 1995. His remains were found five years later buried in the crawl space of the Cheyenne house he shared with Greene and Williams. He had been shot once in the head.
Police and Ross' family had long considered Greene a key player in the crime.
In a videotaped interview, released earlier this year by documentary makers who completed a film on Ross' life and murder, Greene denied having anything to do with the murder of her husband.
But in the interview, Greene contradicted herself repeatedly.
Foremost, Greene first says she did not see her husband, Ross, murdered, but later describes some of what she says happened.
Greene, 50, died March 18 from natural causes at Carroll Regional Medical Center in Berryville, Ark., according to her death certificate, investigators said.
She led a bizarre religious group called the Samaritan Foundation, based in Guthrie, Okla., in the early and mid-1990s.
Greene, a former nurse, spoke about vampires and conspiracies, zombies and perverts, and drew a small following before her cult broke apart.
While her death has permanently closed one avenue to the investigation, it unexpectedly opened up another. Greene's close friend, Julia Williams, who had been living with Greene, showed up in Cheyenne a few days after her death, wanting to talk to police.
Investigators declined to detail what Williams told them. But they believe she did offer some truth about what happened to Ross, amid contradictory statements.
Williams, for instance, told police that Greene had nothing to do with Ross' slaying, which investigators don't buy.
But she provided them other information that has given the investigation new life, authorities said.
A source familiar with the investigation said Williams is believed at the very least to have been involved in burying Ross.
The other person drawing the attention of investigators is a former friend of Greene's who knew her well.
In her videotaped interview, Greene blamed that man for Ross' murder.
In turn, the man blamed Greene for the slaying in a statement to police.
The family of Ross, who grew up in Naperville, has been told of the development, and it has given them new hope.
"I can't wait to get the phone call that they've got somebody," said Ross' brother, Brad. "I can't wait for that day."
"I think about all the families who have never gotten justice," Brad Ross said last week. "People really don't know how bad it is, until you're touched by it."
The Ross family hopes Greene's death will spur others to come forward.