One of the hardest parts of solving a 99-year-old murder is trying to stay focused. The murder of Frank Little wasn't a robbery. It wasn't an angry husband or spouse. It was a very deliberate killing. It was meant to send a message. Let this be a message to anyone who comes to Butte and talks about mineworker's rights and strikes. You are going to be killed just like Frank was. So, a thorough examination of Frank Little was where I started back in 2016. I knew the history. I knew that Frank was a union organizer. I knew that his employer sent him from a mine in Bisbee, Az to Butte. I knew that the United Workers of the World or the Wobblies, were commonly viewed as socialists although I think that is inaccurate. I couldn't grasp the threat level. What did Frank do that was so bad that persons unknown would kidnap him in the middle of the night and brutally murder him? This is where we need context. We need to paint that picture to fully understand why Frank Little was

This story is mostly true. It's really the story of three murders, all of them unsolved, more or less. The Butte, Montana I knew was a town like no other. I had never seen a city with a giant, gaping hole in the middle of it. Black iron skyscrapers, many over 15 stories high, dotted the mountain above the Berkeley Pit. They called them Gallus frames or just headframes. They hoisted precious ore out of the ground, mostly copper, which was in high demand after the turn of the 20th century.  Butte was insanely busy. I was 8 years old when we arrived. It was the summer of 1969. Coming from a little sleepy farming town on flat earth in eastern Montana, Butte looked absolutely cosmopolitan. There were storefronts of almost every variety. Famous stores like Hennessey's. Bakeries like Gamer's and Town Talk. Bars and taverns were everywhere, The Board of Trade, The M and M, The Terminal Bar. People were out and about, walking everywhere at all hours of the day and night. It was a tw