and Johnson forced the family into a car at gunpoint and drove to a wooden area outside of the city. Honken took the adults out of the car, walked them into the woods, and executed them in front of a pre-dug shallow grave. He then did the same to the children. On July 30, 1993, Honken gave his attorney the recording and said he was changing his plea. Upon learning that Nicholson had disappeared, the government turned to Honken's former dealer, DeGeus. Honken told Cutkomp that he was worried about DeGeus turning on him. On November 5, 1993, DeGeus also disappeared. The night before his disappearance, he dropped his 10-year-old daughter off at his mother's house and said he was going to meet Johnson. Johnson lured DeGeus to a country club under the guise of wanting to rekindle their relationship, then drove to an abandoned house where Honken was waiting. Honken beat, shot, and buried DeGeus. Without any witnesses, the government was forced to drop its case against Honken. In the winter of 1993 or 1994, Honken went to Cutkomp and said he needed to destroy a pistol. The two used a blowtorch to cut and melt the gun into multiple pieces, which they discarded in ditches along a country road. In the fall of 1995, Honken recruited a man named Dan Cobeen to help him manufacture meth. However, Cobeen became a police informant. On February 7, 1996, officers executed a search warrant on Honken's house and discovered his meth lab, chemicals, equipment, books, and notes, including ones on manufacturing drugs and how to bind and gag people. Honken and Cutkomp were indicted on federal drug trafficking charges. While awaiting trial, Honken was released on bond. During this time, he plotted to murder Cobeen, police officers, and chemists, and to destroy evidence against him. Cutkomp decided to become an informant. He suspected that Honken had killed Nicholson and was afraid of being wrongfully accused of murder. Cutkomp wore a wire while he was around Honken during their time on pretrial release. Cutkomp recorded Honken talking about his plans to kill witnesses and implicitly referenced killing witnesses in 1993. He compared the feeling of killing someone to a football game, saying, "Once you go a certain distance, there ain't no turning back." When Cutkomp asked Honken if killing people bothered him, he replied "Nope. Never think about it. Never. [...] Never