Dead Ends

Karyn Spencer has been working on a set of investigative stories out of Nebraska for a good while. The first part ran Sunday: CHADRON, Neb. – Tara Russell's body left few clues behind.

Her body rested on its side, her arms bent like a boxer ready to fight, on the living room floor of her trailer.

Her husband split town when cops kept asking questions – his departure raised a few more.

Two months later and 850 miles away, Samantha Lezark's cause of death was no mystery.

She had been murdered, her battered body found on her bedroom floor in Texas.

Both women were slender brunettes in their late 20s. They had tattoos and attitude.

They had something else in common:

Kris Russell.

Tara's husband was Samantha's new boyfriend.

Their deaths a little more than five years ago provide a window into how Nebraska investigates deaths.

With hardly any state requirements, county coroners and local investigators handle cases as they please.

Authorities who investigated Tara's death went well beyond the minimal standards, with their training and their work on her case.

But their efforts didn't satisfy the two families whose daughters ended up in morgues.

Samantha's mother put it this way: "If they had done their jobs, my daughter would still be alive."

Second part is here. Check them out. Let Karyn know what you think.