Kevin Hughes Killed Over Nashville Music 'Pay-Per-View Scam'

On March 9, 1989 at 11 p.m., Nashville law enforcement rushed to Evergreen Records after shots were fired outside the Music Row studio.

“One of the patrol officers had never seen anything like this,” said author Jesse Sublett. Sins of the Southbroadcast on Sundays at 7/6 p.m. on Oxygen. “There was so much blood.”

Sammy Sadler, 21, was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. The other victim, Kevin Hughes, 23, died from a gunshot wound to the head.

For more on true crime:
Popular TikTok star found guilty of murdering ex-wife and her friend
Hoaxer Sherri Papini's Ex-Husband Speaks Out: 'I Was Wrong'
Days after marriage, man dies in wife's arms while defending her from serial killer intruder

Sammy Sadler's version of events

About 24 hours after being shot, Sadler woke up after undergoing surgeries and realized Hughes was dead. Despite Sadler's physical and emotional trauma, detectives sought to get as much information from him as possible as quickly as possible.

Sadler told investigators that he and Hughes went out to dinner after work and stopped at Evergreen Records to make a phone call. This was the studio where Sadler recorded his first album, FoxNews.com reported.

After Sadler ended the phone conversation, he and Hughes walked to Hughes' car, according to now-retired Nashville Police Department Detective Bill Pridemore. “Kevin got in the car and Sammy was opening the car and getting in when the shooter walked up and shot Sammy,” Pridemore said.

“Kevin jumped out of the car and started running,” Pridemore continued. “He was shot while he was running, he fell and the shooter … fired two more shots.”

Sadler said he did not get a good look at the masked gunman's face.

Sammy Sadler briefly a person of interest

For Sadler, an ambitious young country artist, the music charts are a key element of success. Does he have anything to do with Hughes' murder?

“We didn't feel like he was being totally honest with us,” Pridemore said. “I suspected he was involved, directly or indirectly.”

But Sadler denied any involvement. If he had organized Kevin's murder and used his own murder as cover, the serious injuries he suffered made his plan very risky.

Additionally, Sadler agreed to take a polygraph test and passed. Detectives were convinced that Sadler was an innocent victim.

RELATED: Woman Had 'Out-of-Body Experience' and 'Literally Killed' Her Boyfriend, Prosecutor Says

Chuck Dixon and Tony D'Antonio interviewed

Detectives learned that Hughes was having problems at work and was considering quitting his dream job and leaving Nashville. “Kevin's parents knew he was worried and anxious, and they knew it was because of his job,” Sublett said.

To get more details about Hughes' work problems, detectives interviewed Cash Box employees. They also interviewed Chuck Dixon, an influential independent music promoter often seen at Cash Box.

Dixon appeared intrigued by the shooting, according to Sins of the South. Richard “Tony” D'Antonio, former rankings director at Cash Box magazine and one of Dixon's friends, said he was also in the dark.

Although investigators received reports of “disputes over leaderboard rankings,” Cash Box employees were too afraid to speak up, Pridemore said.

New lead emerges in separate unsolved case

The Hughes murder case went cold. Then, in 1994, Pridemore was contacted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Pridemore learned that an undercover informant told a GBI agent that D'Antonio had purchased an unregistered weapon on March 9, 1989, the day of the shooting. IIt was a solid lead. But the secret source was out of reach until the case she was working on was solved.

As detectives worked the case, they uncovered what Jacob called “a payment system” at Cash Box throughout the 1980s.

“Rumors were circulating that Dixon and Tony D'Antonio were both being paid to get their songs higher on the charts,” Jacob said.

This dubious system was already in place when Hughes became director of rankings in 1987. Had Hughes had any dealings with the men allegedly behind the reported scam?

The case was resolved in 2002

Investigators thought they had found a motive for Hughes' murder. But they lacked the evidence to prove it. By 2002, GBI informant Steve Daniel was no longer undercover.

Daniel told detectives that in the late 1980s, D'Antonio “purchased a gun from him on March 9, 1989,” Pridemore said.

“In 1993, Steve Daniel heard about the murder of Kevin Hughes on Crime Stoppers,” Pridemore added.

Daniel realized that D'Antonio matched the description of the shooter who had allegedly run with a limp and said Pridemore that D'Antonio “runs like a duck.”

The investigator also learned that D'Antonio tested the gun before purchasing it in a remote wooded area, which proved to be a popular location for filming. Pridemore collected numerous shell casings from the area in the hopes of matching one with evidence from Hughes' crime scene.

Despite all the obstacles, he was lucky. A firearms expert found “a perfect match” in shell casings recovered from the woods. “He said, 'The bullet came out of Kevin's head,'” Pridemore said.

Tony D'Antonio arrested for murder

In July 2002, D'Antonio was arrested in Las Vegas, where he was working as a floor manager at a casino. He was charged with murder and attempted murder.

In 2002, Langlois foiled the Cash Box magazine scam. She arrested local music promoter Robert Metzger for fraud.

Looking for leverage, Metzger shared information. He told her that Dixon, who died of cancer in 2001, and D'Antonio were behind Hughes' murder.

“According to Robert Metzger, he saw an argument between Chuck Dixon and Kevin Hughes about a week before Kevin died,” Langlois said. “Chuck was trying to give him money. Kevin Hughes was refusing the money.

Dixon and D'Antonio were worried that Hughes might expose their dirty business, so D'Antonio took the hit.

D'Antonio's trial began in 2003. Metzger, Daniel and Sadler testified for the prosecution. D'Antonio had claimed that at the time of the shooting, he was at home with his wife, Sublett said. Now divorced, his ex-wife told the court he didn't get home until after 3 a.m. that evening, Sublett said.

On September 4, 2003, D'Antonio was convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2014.

To learn more about the “Death in Music City » watch Sins of the Southairs Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.