A Bristol, Pennsylvania, detective looking into a cold case murder struggled to make headway. Finally, after a year of coaxing, a former police chief of the department agreed to an interview and made a stunning admission: investigators at the time of Joy Hibbs’ murder in 1991 were told to “stay away” from the man who would later be convicted of her killing.

The revelation that police in his own department allegedly protected a suspect left the detective baffled — and Hibbs’ family furious.