7. The Invisible String

Thank you so much for listening to Ice Cold Case. Your support means the world to me as I go through this mentally and emotionally challenging process of solving my dad’s murder. If you’d like to continue supporting, please consider following, rating, and reviewing this podcast wherever you are listening. It helps our show reach new people who might be able to help solve this case. You can also stay up to date in between episodes on social media. I’ve started adding research materials and episode transcripts to our website icecoldcase.com. If you have any tips you can email them to icecoldcasepodcast@gmail.com.

Oh and for legal purposes, this is all my opinion… allegedly.

Part 0: Can’t Turn Back

To be honest, I knew what I was signing up for when I started investigating this case. I knew that some of these key players were dangerous. But nothing could’ve prepared me for how mentally taxing and morally conflicted this experience has truly been. 

I’m starting to feel a little more like a journalist. But unlike them, I can't clock out of this feeling.  And as I get closer to the truth, the weight of responsibility becomes heavier. But with that comes a wide range of other emotions.

The paranoia is setting in. There’s a murderer who is potentially still out and about. Opening this can of worms would make anyone feel uneasy. And I may not be looking at just a local drug dealer, but a more organized, high level criminal.

I’ve started looking over my shoulder a bit more frequently – wondering how far I can really push the boundaries.

I’m closer than I’ve ever been to solving this case. Even though it’s getting more and more dangerous, I can’t turn back now.

Part 1: Johnny Cool’s

In the early 1990’s, my dad owned a bar across the Ohio River from Belmont County, Ohio in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia. Coined after his nickname, J.C., the bar was called Johnny Cool’s.

The ‘80s and ‘90s saw a massive transformation from a federal level of how drug cases were handled.  Crack cocaine and heroin were becoming more easily accessible. In this area specifically, a lot of drugs were funneling in from all directions with major cities to the east and west of the Greater Wheeling area. It wasn’t hard to get your hands on drugs, and it was easy to develop an addiction.

My dad was allowing drugs to come in and out of Johnny Cool’s and for a while, there were no consequences. Until the feds caught on to what was happening - upstairs at the bar were sex workers and downstairs you could buy almost any drug you were looking for. I’ve scoured the internet, made a lot of phone calls, and tried to get my hands on official reports – but I haven’t had any luck. There’s hardly any information besides other people’s memories floating around about what really happened at Johnny Cool’s. So this is what I’ve gathered.

Before I met J.C. he had a bar in downtown Wheeling called Johnny Cool’s. And this was at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. He had this bar and upstairs he had rooms where he had prostitutes. And his nephew, Rico was selling drugs. It was like a pretty well organized business there.

Rico brought the drugs. JC brought the girls and JC had the bar. So there was booze drugs and women. It was very uh… very ‘90s.

My dad was approached by the police who had caught wind of what was happening at Johnny Cool’s. My dad, as the owner of the bar and therefore responsible in some capacity for what happened there, was given two options – take responsibility or testify against the federal police’s larger target, my cousin and my dad’s nephew Rico. 

The police came and busted them. And JC and his wife at the time, Barb, decided to testify against Rico to keep themselves out of prison.

My dad chose to snitch.

Rico was young at the time, with no priors. But this was such an elaborate drug trafficking operation that the feds put this under the RICO Act. This stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO is a federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. In 1970, these laws were enacted to hold people accountable if they assisted in crimes. 

It was initially created for Mafia members who were part of the planning of murders, but didn’t actually commit the murder themselves. But in this case, it’s anyone associated with drug trafficking – especially the “organizer.” The feds moved swiftly and forced my dad to turn on his  own nephew, Rico. But my dad isn’t the only one who snitched. 

According to the people I spoke with, there were a lot of people who spoke up against Rico including his girlfriend at the time and her parents and other people Rico was dealing drugs with and sold drugs to  ratted him out. Collectively their testimonies helped the prosecutors and ultimately landed Rico a life sentence in federal prison without the possibility of parole. He would never, under any circumstance, get out of jail. His sentence's end date said “deceased.”

Rico got the RICO Act. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Even with the number of people who turned on him, Rico blamed my dad for getting him locked up. And I don’t think he ever let that go. 

Rico was in prison. Rico’s been in prison since the ‘90s at this point.

He was incarcerated most of his adult life.

And that really tore the family up because Rico was his brother’s son.

There are a lot of possible contributing factors to Rico’s resentment. I won’t try to put words in his mouth, but I tried to understand his thought process. The fact that my dad was family – his own uncle – probably didn’t sit right with him. Not only is there a stigma against snitching, this was his own blood relative. And he probably thought, and expected, his Uncle J.C. would protect him. 

That family was pretty close at that time. The McGhee family was very close when all this went down with JC.

When I first heard this story from my family, they had me really convinced that because Rico was so young at the time, he couldn’t be the ringleader of this massive drug trafficking organization. They thought he was taking the fall for someone else – someone he refused to snitch on. But the more I learned about my cousin, Rico, the more that theory didn’t sit right with me. Rico is smart, resourceful, and calculated…

So that kind of started this whole thing.

Part 2: Rico McGhee

This is where I’d like to provide some context about Rico McGhee – who he was, what he was like, and some facts about his crime history to give you a general overview of who I am dealing with here. Initially it was difficult because when I started to look into him – there wasn’t much I could find. Even my family members weren’t willing to talk about Rico, in any context. It took some prying, but the only information that was given to me was through a quick message. And even then I was asked not to disclose the names or identities of the people I spoke with. So let that speak for itself.

I don’t really feel that comfortable talking about Rico.

Around 2012, I’m told Rico was released from federal prison due to a  change in policy at a federal level through the Fair Sentencing Act. Essentially the President was pardoning nonviolent drug offenders who had been given life sentences. To my knowledge, anyone who was released from prison because of this Act would be accounted for through documentation. But I cannot find any evidence of him being released under this Obama-era drug reformation. I can’t even find evidence of the initial trial or record of his stay at any federal jail in America.

‘Cause he was in there for twenty years. They changed that crack law and he got out on that.

Because he was about to do life. They had him in there for life if they hadn’t changed that crack law.

It’s bizarre to me that there is no paper trail of this legislation. Surely there’s something that says who was released and what their initial crimes were. This made me question if Rico was released on the Fair Sentencing Act. Or if he was released for a different reason – like being an informant? Maybe he acquired new information while hopping from federal prison to federal prison. If you can’t give me anything that supports that fact, I’m suspicious. I will always want to see proof.

Remember when they allowed a lot of people out who had non-violent drug offenses. According to the former US Attorney, Rico was one of them.

Last year, my dad’s brother Charles passed away under mysterious circumstances. A lot of family members told me something very ominous…if I can figure out what happened to Charles, I’ll get that much closer to solving my dad’s murder. These are the same family members that say Rico couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with my dad’s murder. Are they trying to cover their tracks but leave me hints at the same time? Should I be worried for my own safety?

In October of 2022, Rico McGhee was arrested again. He is being accused of spearheading West Virginia's largest drug supplying network and is being charged with conspiring to distribute large quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Let me put into perspective how much – WTRF in Wheeling said there was enough fentanyl seized from Rico’s home to kill sixty-five percent of the West Virginia population. The federal attorney in charge of this case, William Ihlenfeld, said this is one of the top 10 he’s ever handled. 

Even with a case like this, Rico’s reputation preceded him. The federal attorney, Ihlenfeld admitted that Rico was well known to law enforcement. Even the Belmont County Prosecutors were aware of his history. 

Rico can be violent. Now can he be that violent? I don’t know.

A couple weeks ago, I got a very strange phone call from a man who gave me no identification but claimed to be “the police” calling from the “Ohio Valley Drug Task Force.” He was calling to ask me if I had any information on Rico McGhee. I couldn’t tell if this was legitimate or not, but it didn’t sit right with me. It felt almost like a warning, like Rico was letting me know that he knows I am looking into his possible involvement in my dad’s murder. 

I’ve had my own suspicion that Rico is going to try to get out of this most recent indictment with as little jail time as possible. In my mind, the easiest way for him to do that… is to snitch. 

I’ve been thinking he’s informing also.

I’ve searched very hard to find more information on the new case against Rico. Part of me wanted some confirmation that he was, in fact, behind bars. Usually you can see publicly if people are held, where they are being held. But not Rico. I wondered if there was something going on. Then an anonymous tip came in, saying that Rico is starting to snitch and as a result there has been a hit put out on him. Now the feds have him in protective custody. That’s a privilege my dad was never afforded.

Part 3: The Connection

I have thought from the beginning – would Rico have put a hit out on my dad? It’s possible that his connections on the outside were strong enough. But then I would have to tie Rico to the people I believed were there the morning my dad was murdered.

Omar and Richard are Rico’s cousins. And I have suspicions that both of them were selling drugs. It’s very possible that those drugs came from Rico or his organization. The story of Richard’s safe could have been half true – there could have been a safe with drug money, but I don’t think that these men were after money at all. And remember the nickname Tone? I’ve recently discovered that Richard’s middle name is Anthony. 

My family really won’t speak of Rico at all in any context – good or bad. But recently when I would ask if they thought Rico had anything to do with my dad’s murder, they immediately shut down any speculation. I find it very interesting that they’re so adamant he had nothing to do with any of this. They say things like “he just wouldn’t do it” and leave it at that. It’s a little unsettling that they wouldn’t even consider the possibility he was involved and that makes me skeptical that there’s more to their connection to Rico.

Since Rico got out of jail in 2012, he’s been known as a family-oriented guy. I’ve been told he would throw massive pool parties at his house in Belair and would invite all the cousins over to hang out and eat pizza. It’s easy to see why they would turn their back on Rico’s own dealings - even if other family member’s were involved. If Rico was providing extra comfort and stability to the family, why would they step in to play moral police? 

People are trying to cover up for him. That’s why they’re putting Omar out there. That’s what I think.

It all points to the camaraderie he’s built outside of jail. And it’s very clear now why this case has slipped through the cracks of everyone’s memory.

Part 4: Daryl Smith

I mean I’m not sure, I mean Rico could’ve got that. Had a hit ordered on JC and he may have been involved slightly on the outskirts. But he’s too smart to have anything of himself connected on the outskirts to this situation, to the murder. No way, he’s way too smart.

How would Daryl tie into this? There is proof that Daryl is on the same indictment as Rico from the 90s. So at the very least, they have been associated in criminal activities together in the past.

Rico has been described to me as very smart and manipulative. 

I’m cordial with Rico, but I don’t trust him.

It sounds like he could’ve easily played on the emotions of the other people on that indictment and convinced them to seek revenge against my dad. And I’m told that Rico McGhee, Daryl Smith, and Duncan Waits all grew up together in Wheeling.

‘Cause they’re supposedly friends. Like they’ve been friends… That’s the whole reason that they thought he did it. ‘Cause they’re saying it’s Rico’s friend that did it.

But during that time, if you do the right things in prison you can get your own network and you can be running stuff straight out of prison.

Daryl Smith is still a prime suspect to me. When Kim identified him as being at the scene, even with Omar going back and forth, Kim never wavered. She has maintained that Daryl was there. And I believe her. Granted Omar’s testimony has changed, one of the cars he said was at the scene that morning was a purple PT cruiser. In 2002, Daryl Smith had a girlfriend named Tish. And Tish drove a blue PT Cruiser.

Not only was Daryl identified by Kim, a witness in this case, but he had a motive because my dad testified against him. His connection to Rico is just another reason to add to a growing list.

Now I have to figure out – how this group got together to plan this out. If Daryl and Duncan were childhood friends and selling drugs together. If Omar was part of this plan to lure my dad to the door without a gun. There’s a lot of IF’s in this scenario. But the connective tissue is starting to form. And Omar is standing out as more and more skeptical.

We get Daryl. He started bringing up some interesting facts.

Omar claims he did not know Daryl at all prior to this day. But Detective DeVaul spoke with Daryl and said that Daryl was telling a completely different story when it came to his connection to Omar.

I’m pointing the finger back at Omar. He said he didn’t know Daryl Smith. They were on the same baseball team as kids.

Daryl says hey I see him around all the time.

Omar, Daryl, Duncan, and Rico could have all been dealing drugs together or they could have been competitors, but either way they would have known each other. And they all were connected to my dad.

My dad ratted Daryl out or testified against him at some point which does provide motive. Even though my dad testified against a lot of people, Rico is the only one who got a life sentence. But there’s another familiar name associated with that case at Johnny Cool’s.

Uh, there’s a lot of drug dealers – J.C. has been – and there’s also been… I can start from the beginning. It all started back when J.C. told on his nephew. I don’t know if you know Rico. This was back in 1992 where I got my first charge at. This is when he sent his nephew to jail for life. See the situations were – J.C.’s a snitch. And there’s just a lot of people – hate him for that. 

Butchie is listed on the same indictment as Daryl and Rico from the early ‘90s. Their connection is obvious. Their motive is clear. If this was a planned attack, it would take multiple people to pull this off. They would have to work together. When it comes to Rico, Daryl,Duncan, and even Butchie – Rico was the glue.

I don’t believe this was a home invasion gone wrong. This was intentional.

Somebody organized that.

I always thought that… always.

Part 5: It Seems So Obvious

From the beginning, it seemed obvious. But the deeper you dive into this case, the more complex it becomes. Too many people with potential involvement. Too many possible motives to want my dad dead. Too many theories.

But, once you sift through and take a microscopic look you start to see that invisible string — one that ties multiple theories together, that binds motives, and connects suspects to each other.

It’s very clear — my dad’s murder was a targeted, planned attack.

Based on the tips and messages that have flooded in since the start of this podcast, Daryl and Rico are undoubtedly connected. And Daryl is the number one suspect. It seems like the whole county knows Daryl was involved and Rico is somehow an auxiliary character.

If everyone is throwing around this theory, why haven’t the police done anything to rule it out? That’s the least they could do. Rico wasn’t questioned at all, nor is my dad’s murder suspected to be due to his work as a confidential informant. 

There’s still something I’m missing… and if no one will tell me, I’ll find it myself.

Next Time on Ice Cold Case

Percy absolutely hated JC for putting his son in prison for life. And it’s very interesting that he was the executor of JC’s estate.

‘Cause I feel like it’s going to come out eventually anyways

Credits:

Ice Cold Case is brought to you by Yes!
It is written and produced by Madison McGhee
Also produced by Jeremy Benbow 
Recorded by Danny Sellers
Mixed by Cody Campbell
Our music is by Matt Bettinson
With creative direction by Austin Christianson