Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Hell on Wheels’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Betrayed,’ the primary focus is on the horrific killing of a single mother named Diane Snellen in Kentucky in 2002. When the news of her passing broke out, the entire community was left shell-shocked, with the detectives trying to get to the bottom of the case. As they delved deeper, they uncovered a complicated family dynamic and a life insurance policy as the potential motive. All the intricate details of the case and the subsequent investigation are explored in the documentary, which also features exclusive, insightful interviews with Diane’s loved ones and the officials who helped solve it.
Diane Snellen Was Found Dead in Her Kentucky Home
Born on April 14, 1961, in Wakefield, Michigan, Diane Marie Morgan Snellen was raised alongside two siblings by a single mother. Later, she relocated to Wyoming, where she met Stephen Olson and married him at the age of 20. In the following years, the couple welcomed two children into the world — Stephen Jr. and Stephanie. Unfortunately, their marriage eventually deteriorated, and they parted ways by getting a divorce. Diane then moved to Georgetown, Kentucky, with the two children. While working a job, she reportedly fell in love with a coworker named Danny Snellen, whom she married on December 31, 1991. However, after eight years of marriage, Diane and Danny filed for divorce as things weren’t working out between them.
Diane led a single life in Georgetown, Kentucky, where she later began navigating the dating scene. After Stephen Jr. moved out, the single mother lived with her daughter Stephanie in the family home. She still had many dreams to fulfill when fate suddenly intervened. On June 6, 2002, the police received a harrowing call from Stephanie, who told them: “Um, either my mom killed herself, or somebody came and murdered her.” She also told the dispatcher that Diane was lying in a puddle of blood. When the police arrived at the Georgetown home, they noticed the 41-year-old woman dead in an upstairs bedroom, with multiple stab wounds.
Upon inspection of the crime scene, the detectives initially believed that it was a case of a home invasion gone wrong. However, when they noticed no sign of a break-in, forced entry, or sexual assault, they concluded that the perpetrator had staged the scene. The medical examiner determined that she had been stabbed a total of 27 times — 16 times in the chest and nine incisions to the back of her head. The investigators also found multiple defense wounds on her hands, but couldn’t find the murder weapon anywhere near the crime scene.
Diane Snellen’s Murder Involved Multiple Perpetrators
During the investigation, the police received a break in the case when an inmate named Richard Roberts told them that his cellmate, Timothy Wayne Crabtree, had confessed to killing Diane Snellen. At the time, Timothy was behind bars for an unrelated crime. As the detectives dug deeper into Diane’s life, they found that cracks began to appear in her relationship with her daughter, Stephanie, when Stephanie started dating David Dressman, whom Diane didn’t approve of. The couple reportedly tried to run away together to Florida, but were picked up in Georgia and returned home after Diane reported her daughter missing. Prosecutors alleged that, determined to stay together, Stephanie and David began plotting Diane’s murder.
According to trial testimony, David reached out to Timothy to carry out the crime, allegedly promising him some percentage of the $200,000 life insurance that Stephanie was expected to receive. On the night of June 5, 2002, despite her mother’s instructions to return home, she initially stayed with her boyfriend at a friend’s house. As per the investigators’ theory, Timothy and David accompanied Stephanie, who allegedly returned home and confronted Diane. According to this theory, Diane was trapped in Stephanie’s bedroom and killed, after which the perpetrators allegedly staged the crime scene to appear like a sexual assault.
During the investigation, the friend with whom the couple was staying claimed that they had left the house for long periods on the fateful night. The following day, on June 6, Stephanie called 911 and reported Diane’s murder to the police, claiming she knew nothing about it. Several months later, in April 2003, after gathering enough evidence against the trio, the authorities arrested David Tyler Dressman and Timothy Wayne Crabtree and charged them with first-degree murder and burglary. Since Stephanie was a minor at the time, her case was handled in juvenile court. Later, she was charged with complicity to murder.
Stephanie Olson and David Dressman Are Seemingly Out of Prison Today
A couple of years later, in 2005, Timothy Crabtree entered an Alford plea to the lesser charge of conspiracy to murder and received a six-year imprisonment sentence. In exchange, he agreed to testify against Stephanie Olson and David Dressman in their respective trials. During David’s trial, Timothy testified for the prosecution, which ultimately secured a guilty verdict from the jury. David was eventually convicted of complicity to murder and complicity to burglary and received a total of 30 years (20+10) prison sentence for his involvement in the crime.
In May 2005, Stephanie was also found guilty of complicity to murder in connection with Diane Snellen’s homicide. She was reportedly sentenced to 25 years in prison. During her trial, she took the stand and maintained her innocence. She stated, “I want to know who did that to my mom.” After serving 20 of 25 years, she was released on December 9, 2025, from the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women in Shelby County. As for David Dressman, he seemingly became eligible for parole in recent years, and it appears he is no longer incarcerated.
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