Pearo also testified, noting that almost all the evidence from the crime scene had disappeared, except one bullet casing. K: Thats David Pearo, the lead case investigator for the Norman Police Department in the 1990s. JOSEPH WAYNE McCOOL As a matter of fact, he, even all those years later, he kept track of where Gilley was on the sly, would leave him a little note on his car every once in a while, Gilley wouldnt know where it came from, but were still looking at you, that kind of stuff, a little psychological warfare. WebNORMAN, OKLAHOMA: The trial of a 45-year-old father, who allegedly molested and killed his daughter and then told the police that the 22-year-old accidentally shot herself, started That was good enough for me to go after him with everything I had.. It wasnt going to get any better.. They spoke to an ex-girlfriend of Davids, who said they had sometimes went to the Ten-Mile Flats area after dates. And we started to hear this idea that the Norman police were covering themselves and trying to make up for the public outcry against them 20 years earlier. Grady 2 Views. Theyd see Gilleys pictures in the papers, on TV Amarillos not that big of a town. I think he just thought it was embarrassing to have the guy being investigated.. Two decades had gone by and the investigators werent going to gather much more than they already had, Ken Jacobson, the 1970s OSBI investigator, said. About 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City, the Norman Police Department responded Sunday night to storm damage on the south and eastern sides of Norman. But I was. Another unsolved case is that of 2-year-old Riah Thomas. He said his assault charges and even the call from the Amarillo TV station were retaliation for a contentious sheriff election in Amarillo in 1968, among other things, and that he was being used as a, quote, political football.. But one officer leaves just four days after the murders. K: Back to that Tuesday in 1970: the OU protest ended peacefully, but police and residents were on edge for the rest of the week. They were spurred on by the initial evidence; the assault charge, Henslee hiring Gilley out of line with protocols and Gilley disappearing. Gilley was brought in to the Amarillo police station and had his mug shots taken. Two counts of first-degree murder. The jury went on for a few days, but thats really the end of it. He has an old binder with newspaper clippings, police reports and photos he took of the crime scene when it was discovered. Hundreds of court documents back that up. Oklahoma is 10.8% cheaper than Norman, Oklahoma. Well start back up with thoughts from Linda Adams, Sheryls older sister. WebCrime in Norman, Oklahoma. K: In the spring of 1971, the bodies of Gilleys former partner Butch Green and Greens mistress were found after her husband shot and killed them when he found the pair together. Tornado hits Norman damaging the electric system and causing power cuts. Many thought a cop would never commit such a crime. Bill Maher funeral home. Recording of Pearo: Its bad enough in a normal murder case, I mean we know we take every murder seriously but if theres a dirty cop somewhere, that looks bad on all of us. And inside the trunk were the bodies of David and Sheryl, shot and mutilated. K: Boden and her date Rick had been west of Norman, in the same area that David and Sheryl were just 30 days earlier. Its been 48 years and the case has been closed and reopened, seen two grand juries and one trial. Munoz told investigators he knew nothing about a dead body in the basement and gave them his consent to conduct a search. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. He agreed to give Gilley a polygraph test, unbeknownst to case investigators. Maybe hes just gone away and somebody will rescue them or find them. A lot of blood and congestion in the right lung from a wound in the lung. Authorities found a 9mm handgun inside a trash can in the garage, according to an arrest warrant. DALLAS -- A 56-year-old former Oklahoma policeman has been arrested and charged with killing two University of Oklahoma students on a rural lovers lane more than 20 years ago. Two years later, it seems like charges might be put against Gilley, but nothing is certain. That happens all the time at OU. Hes got a big smile, seems confident. Henslee said he thought Gilley was the target of a hate plot and a smear campaign. WebRT @dtblove05: Oklahoma University football team helping out one of their teammates clean up after a tornado destroyed his house in Norman, OK. 28 Feb 2023 01:09:39 Having a conversation with Gilley in reference to his activities when he was a deputy sheriff in Amarillo, he told me of several investigations he had made and also relayed to me that during patrolling for our police department, he asked where any parkers went. It was just gone, all the evidence was just gone.. Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders: Recording of Linda: It changes your whole entire life., Recording of Ken: First of all, he quit the police department and got out of town, which was brilliant., Recording of Brake: If it really came out that he hired this guy on suspended sentence for beating up prisoners, itd make him look awfully bad., Recording of Linda: Its just such a sad, sad thing, not just because of the murder but because of the way it happened and ended up.. K: This is Linda Adams, the older sister of Sheryl Benham. K: He told us about finding the old case information from the murders and becoming interested. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Recording of Brake: Wish we could have put the son of a bitch in the electric chair.. K: NPD responded to public criticism of its officers over the years, said Major Kevin Foster. Months went by without a response or a jury. Recording of Minty: his job was to cast some kind of doubt on the jurys mind about whether, you know, the validity of those claims. I think thats what happened and the autopsy points to that as well. (The US average is 22.7) Norman property crime is 40.9. ADVERTISEMENT FIND A FACILITY. And then we were afraid that if we didnt let him know, we wouldnt know when he was coming home. Recording of Sarah: And I think even evidence management is like a totally different ball game in the sense of how we now use a locker system. Compare Norman crime data to A tight knit group. The case is almost 50 years old and remains unsolved. Then here we can and were visiting it again, making the news again. At the end of episode four, police called Frank Gilley at work and told him to hurry home. I had an awful time letting go of it. whos who and what do I need to do to keep a job or to get that promotion. K: Almost two days later, their belongings were found dropped in and around Daves car, a 1966 Pontiac GTO. WebThe following are some of the more dangerous Most Wanted individuals in Cleveland County, the state of Oklahoma and the United States. NORMAN Cory Jay Bodily was killed in 2008. They had broken up a few months before, but Jacobson said he just wasnt the type to commit a murder. He might have fired most of the ammunition from it already and he doesnt have the firepower to kill them both. And if he did know, what did he think when investigators were first tipped off by an Amarillo reporter to look into Gilley as a possible suspect in the murders of Sheryl and Dave? When I googled the names of those involved, dozens of articles popped up, spanning decades. So we called him at work. And theres probably a million cases like that This one is really unique in that it involved a police officer and I think that if we had had 100 percent cooperation from the get go, that we could have cleared it., K: It wasnt until 1972 that the case seemed like it might pick back up again. David came to OU as a student from Amarillo, Texas, in 1966. When you read Davids autopsy report, you find massive right hemoral thorax. And about 10 or 15 minutes later, we looked up and dont know how long this guy had been standing there, but we looked up and there was a man standing there and he had a badge and he showed it to us. WebNORMAN Police conducting a murder investigation say the decomposed body of a woman with special needs was found inside a container in the basement of a home about Recording of Linda: He looked at my mom and said, Sue, Im going after him and theyre not going to do anything, and he got his truck and took off and I know he had a rifle. Ten years later, his mother, Sharleen Resor, is finally close to experiencing closure. WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. Eventually, Jacobson told Ben Benham, Sheryls father, to try writing a letter to Oklahomas attorney general and see if a grand jury could be convened, effectively skipping the need for authorization from heads of local agencies and instead giving officers a way to immediately close in on Gilley. Yeah we should do that. Recording of Brake: Henslee, I think, after the murder happened, I think he thought right away Oh this guy might have done it and Im going to look terrible for hiring him, so lets just get him the heck out of town. So Henslee was in cover up mode at that point. WebNorman man arrested in connection with murder of woman found at Lake Thunderbird; Former Norman car dealer accused of tampering in criminal case; Body recovered at Lake K: Ten days before Green told investigators what he knew about Gilley, they learned that multiple young couples had recently been harassed by an unknown man on lovers lanes. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: the Lovers Lane Murders. There were press conferences asking for information and a reward fund was set up, raising thousands of dollars to give to anyone who could provide helpful details. K: Police had starting investigating where Sheryl and David could have been after Sheryls dad filed the missing persons report. Click on the image below to view the Lexis Nexis Community Crime map. So if you come across something at a department where something may have beentried to be swept under the rug because the department didnt want to look bad, the current chief or sheriff didnt want to look bad for whatever reason you might think that happens. Recording of Foster: One, we have basic requirements of age. When we got upstairs, Mr. Gilley was filling out the paperwork on the Mexican boy and he asked the boy how much money he had and the boy said $10. The initial investigation putters out after obstruction from local law enforcement agencies. The articles mention the relationship between Henslee and Gilley, that they had worked numerous cases together when Henslee was a Texas Ranger assigned to Pampa, Texas and Gilley was still in Potter County, about an hour southwest. Episode 1 My mind was, Where could I go, what couldve happened? She drove me to Norman. K: Frank Gilley lived in Texas working odd jobs until he died in March 2002, according to the Amarillo Globe-News. K: Ballistics tests had come back negative for guns collected from a search of Gilleys home in November 1990, when officers found a sawed-off shotgun and tried to connect it with the murders of David and Sheryl. College students going out together, laughing with friends, looking forward to the future. He had showed me all of these at one time or another and also offered to loan them to me. I dont anymore. Recording of Pearo: We went down and we talked to a judge in Dallas. K: Solorzano said protocols for handling evidence have become much more strict in the last 50 years, every step being documented in a complex computer program. What became the most important, Jacobson told us, was finding the murder weapon. Recording of Ken: Im thrilled that somebody is still interested enough in it to try to put something together, thats why I didnt hesitate to meet with yall. Get to know their families and the rural Norman road that is just the beginning of the unsolved mystery. The daughter of one of his wives said Gilley had answered yes when she asked if hed ever killed anyone, though there is no record of a lawful killing on Gilleys police file. NORMAN Investigators arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird last Monday. They felt the options were running slim, until February 1991. He said the politics were too much, that true policing was impossible because of it. The violent crime rate in Norman is 289.4 per 100,000 people. The Girl Scout Murders of 1977 still remains unsolved to So he opens the trunk and he stands there with the rifle and just starts emptying the rifle into them. I was taken into his car and handcuffed to be taken to the jail, along with some of the other boys . Brake lives in Oklahoma City, working part time as a public information officer for the OKC county commissioners office. The case becomes exceedingly complicated and twisted from here on out, so be prepared. Well we thought that was unusual because Frank lived in Amarillo.. On March 8, 1972, the grand jury met for the first time in Cleveland County to listen to witness testimonies and decide if there were any charges that could be filed against Gilley or if there was mishandling they could hold the local law agencies accountable for. It was the summer after Woodstock and Americas counterculture was thriving. Maybe Sheryl had been drugged. She was outgoing and fun and their family was close. The stories they told were shrouded in conspiracy theories and different ways the case was mishandled by the Norman Police Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Shes a grandmother too, visiting her grandchildren as they graduate from college and get drivers licenses, close to the same age Sheryl was when she died. He brought up the likelihood that Butch Green, his former partner who died a year after the murders, was the real potential suspect. Officers with assault charges arent usually allowed to continue policing. Forty years ago, Gregory W. Canatis got into a fight with his father in their Midwest City apartment and killed him with a brand-new butcher knife. Recording of Pearo: In February of 1990, just out of the blue, the old landlord for where Frank Gilley, where he used to live.. Said if I went out in the woods and took off all my clothes, he wouldnt take me to jail.. NORMAN, Okla. An Oklahoma man shot and killed his estranged wife and her divorce lawyer, then took his own life, police reported Wednesday. On Saturday, May 9, 1970, Dave was 21. He was married multiple times and had a few children. 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