In the pre-dawn hours of Easter morning 1994 in rural Jefferson, Wisconsin, 40-year-old Ruben Edward Borchardt was shot twice in the chest with a .410 shotgun inside his home. His teenage son, Charles, awakened by a loud bang and the smell of gunpowder, found his father gravely wounded; Ruben spoke of disbelief about who had done it before dying at the hospital. The scene was initially staged to look like a burglary, with items scattered and the phone line unplugged.

Investigators later tied the killing to a murder-for-hire plot connected to Ruben’s bitter divorce from his estranged wife, 45-year-old Diane Borchardt, a teacher’s aide at Jefferson High School. An anonymous tip five months after the murder led to three local teenagers — Douglas Vest Jr., 17; Joshua Yanke, 16; and 15-year-old Michael Maldonado — who were implicated in carrying out the shooting. Prosecutors said Diane promised cash upfront and a share of life insurance, plus future payments, cars, and jewelry; one teen disconnected the phone while two others went to the basement to shoot Ruben.

In September 1994 Diane Borchardt and the three teenagers were arrested.

Did anyone in Jefferson at the time notice unusual contacts between Diane and the teenagers, or have information about the anonymous tip that broke the case open?