Two in a Million

Profit

Sergeant Margaret Mims

Sergeant Margaret Mims, from the Fresno Sheriff's Department, came out of her office on May 2, 1992, and explained to the press that detectives were "interviewing other members of the Ewell family, friends, area residents and business associates. ... We're talking to everybody within the sphere of influence," the Fresno Bee reported Mims as saying, "and in this particular case that sphere of influence is very large so it's going to take a while."

It was clear that Dale Ewell had not made many friends in his business of selling airplanes. There was even a rumor working its way into the social circles of town that Mr. Ewell had perhaps upset a few drug lords he had sold planes to and a hit had been put out on him.

Back to the Sopranos theory: Would a professional, though, make that one mistake? Ransacking the laundry room.

No.

On top of that, the Fresno Bee reported on May 3 that there were several former clients of Dale's who had sued him for overcharging them. Several had claimed Dale had made upwards of $30,000 on the sale of one plane, which made some incredibly angry that his profit margin was so enormous.

Still, investigators didn't put much weight into this as a motive. Would someone hold a grudge against a guy and whack nearly his entire family over a bad deal years ago?

It didn't seem possible.