Bucher was unconvinced

Bucher was unconvinced.

More evidence, he told the investigators, bring me more evidence.

And they did.With the help of state and Waukesha County investigators, they tracked down medical X-rays of Cliff Machan and confirmed through a local chiropractor that Machan had suffered a shoulder injury, which was consistent with the X-rays and skeletal evidence.

They confirmed that Buschman was renting the storage garage at the Letko farm when Machan disappeared and that a load of pea gravel was delivered to the garage around the time Machan’s grave presumably had been dug.They confirmed that the engine to Machan’s cut-up Chevy pickup had been sold by Willy Cresca to a Waukesha County farmer.

They confirmed that the explosive used in the Anstett bombing was in fact TNT and that the shrapnel was made up of spent welding rods. A cake of defused TNT was later traced to informant Billy Wadsworth in northern Illinois, lending credibility to Wadsworth’s claim that he and Buschman stole the TNT and that Wadsworth had seen the bomb being assembled.But it still wasn’t enough.

“We would get the evidence Bucher asked for,” says one former detective, “then he’d backstep and say, ‘No, I’m not doing it.’

And without a reason. He just kept moving the yardstick.”