There was a lot of talk about cover up from the chief of police back then and everything, so the whole thing just had kind of a bad smell to it I guess. You know, you think youre going to get out of this, youre going to go to class the next day or go to work or whatever you do. And after almost 50 years, she said the pain is more manageable. Munoz told investigators he knew nothing about a dead body in the basement and gave them his consent to conduct a search. But there were also bullet casings, almost 30 of them, scattered in the dirt and brush. But Jacobson, never did let go of the case. K: After finding the car and the bodies, officers from all of the agencies came together to sweep the area. DNA testing wasnt being used yet, so police had few options. K: This is Linda Adams, the older sister of Sheryl Benham. Oklahoma City, OK A daughter of an ex-wife said Gilley told her he had killed someone and kept a diary of old cases with pictures of dead bodies. She did have a couple of chest wounds, but there was not a lot of bleeding internally in that. And he told me, he said if I file a case like that, itll set law enforcement back 20 years in Oklahoma., Recording of Kayla: Now what does that mean? Gilley was white, 5-foot-8 and close to 180 pounds. On Thursday. Recording of Brake: They asked, Were you acquainted with Frank Gilley when he was employed by the Norman Police Department? WebCrime rate in Norman, Oklahoma (OK): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers, crime map Crime rate in Recording of Pearo: Its always a let down. In addition to debris, there are cars with 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.. NORMAN Investigators arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird last Monday. He gets the rifle, which is a high capacity rifle, a .22 rifle might have a magazine of 22 rounds or more. The driveway is to the left, the sidewalk running along the length of the house for a few yards before the steps to the front door. He had lived in small towns in northern Texas his whole life and spent over a decade in the Amarillo area as a sheriffs deputy for Potter County. You know and Frank and David were both described as hotheads and so you put two hotheads together I think Frank his only choice was to shoot him to protect himself and then Sherry probably just did whatever he wanted her to do., Recording of Brake: heek. And then he comes back. In episode 2, listen to the the story of Sheryls sister, Linda, on the day her family searched for Sheryl. Recording of Ken: Well, Id been to law enforcement academy at LSU for 90 days and I got back that Sunday, Mothers Day was going to take a couple of days off but was going by the office to get my expenses I was actually in the bank parking lot, I remember where I was, and the chief agent called me on the radio and asked if I would go to Norman to help them with a vehicle theyd recovered in a missing persons case. Believed under the right circumstances, especially if the possibility of discovery were probable, that Gilley would not hesitate to kill a person or persons to help cover an illegal act he was committingThis is also from Sheriff Johnston, Randall County Texas, where Gilley worked at one point. Maybe the war protesters from earlier that week had started rioting. Compare Norman crime data to K: From interviews, news articles and court documents, we were able to piece together an outline of that night. They tried to set up sting operations, but they came up with no solid evidence. Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders is a five-part investigative podcast into the murders of two teenagers in Norman, Oklahoma in 1970. We got out there and the polygrapher is an old Texas Ranger, one of Hensleys buddies. Episode 4 crosses state lines into Dallas, Texas, where the investigation is reopened in the 1990s. I call, my dad picks up the phone. He was found to not be involved with the case at all. An old pool cue, broken in half, was in the front seat. Most of these shots were in the upper body and head. August Murders accounted for 1.5% of all violent crimes and 0.2% of reported index crimes. He was married multiple times and had a few children. He agreed to give Gilley a polygraph test, unbeknownst to case investigators. Dave and Sherry deserved something better than what they got and their families Maybe there is something in there we missed.. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. One of them was Butch Green, who had ridden with Frank, who gave the statement that Frank did in fact carry a .22 rifle on duty in the car. WebNORMAN, Okla. Norman police on Thursday released the identities of two men who died in an apparent murder-suicide. And over the years, when we went back and started looking for those things, the OSBI couldnt locate them. She told them he was home with her, but later recanted her statement, saying she didnt know exactly where he was. Instead, immediately call the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department at 405-701-7700. Well, we shared the same bedroom. At the end of episode two, we first heard the name Frank Gilley as a possible suspect in the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan in early May of 1970. Not only does the department interact with the Norman community on a more regular basis, but the hiring protocols for officers have completely changed. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: the Lovers Lane Murders. There would have been music, talking, some drinking, maybe dancing. I think before when it was brought up, I still hurt so bad and my emotions. Did they find Sherry? Yes. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: Click on the links below to see charts for each crime category. Said hes shoot rabbits with it and stuff. 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. K: Jacobson left the OSBI almost a year later. He was only on the force for three years, mostly focused on this one case. I dont fault them for trying. It sits in a quiet neighborhood. Way past that 1991 trial. As he was leaving the barn about 7 a.m., he saw two men standing next to two parked cars. A woman who was a clerk for NPD in 1970, said Gilley was in the office around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, within a few hours of the murders, and acted unusual. Recording of Linda: Well, she loved her job I love, theres this one picture of Sherri, she looked so cute she had the little red skirt and the white top, you know, and she was just so cute in it.. Before she left that house, she turned to my mother and said, Here mom, heres your Mothers Day present early the next day was Mothers Day. Crime Rate per 100,000 Pop. Most of the trial information was kept from the public, but news articles indicated that Henslee and other officers testified, as did Jacobson and the other investigators. Recording of Ken: Well Frank and Henslee and the sheriff were all buddies from out there and so we asked Henslee if we could take a look at that letter and he couldnt produce it. -36.90% lower than the Oklahoma violent crime rate of 458.6 per 100,000 people. Pearo and his fellow investigators would drive to Dallas frequently, watching Gilleys house, following him to work, trying to put together enough evidence to arrest him. Munoz said he had to call police to get Sanchez to leave. 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. Recording of Brake: There was no official record at any check in Texas to indicate that Gilley had ever made contact with Sloan, officially. And we think that was sort of a mistake because of what the jurors said in some of their questionnaires. Im writing this in hopes that some of the people receiving this letter can provide answers, he typed. NORMAN Cory Jay Bodily was killed in 2008. Dave Pearo and some of those guys, they really wanted to go after it.. Now detectives believed themselves to be without any physical evidence. He has an old binder with newspaper clippings, police reports and photos he took of the crime scene when it was discovered. While Sandoval lived with Sanchez and his wife, there were multiple reports filed with law enforcement and state agencies, investigators said. Splashed along the front pages of newspapers and TV station headlines were two words: not guilty. At the end of episode four, police called Frank Gilley at work and told him to hurry home. Back to Brake reading Bodens statement: Recording of Brake: We watched it go down and when it was down, we were still there for a few minutes and a car drove by and I didnt see it but Rick did. Words he said he believes she would have said.. They said he had no family, no visitors, I hope he didnt. K: By this point, it had been over a year since the murders and the small group of dedicated investigators had spent hundreds of hours on the case. We still do polygraph examinations. The Benhams became close with investigators, especially Ken Jacobson, the lead investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. It would be the publics first look at new details and theories regarding the case. Web9801 DEERFIELD DR, NORMAN, OK 73026 Get a FREE Property Report for this home. He told my mother, Then I remembered, I still got you, I still got Linda and I still got Steve. So he drove back home.. Pearo and his fellow investigators would drive to Dallas frequently, watching Gilleys house, following him to work, trying to put together enough evidence to arrest him. WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. And theyre almost all headshots at that point. It seemed like there was a main theory our sources kept coming back to on why it was so difficult to solve the case, even after the testimonies from other young couples who had also been harassed on lovers lanes in the area and from Butch Green, Gilleys former partner, who told police Gilley had lied about not owning .22 caliber weapons. Jacobson pointed to the unusual handling of the case and what he considered obstruction that interfered with the investigation. Based on a tip, investigators discovered Sandovols decomposing body in a residential basement at 715 W Lindsey St. Detectives interviewed Miguel Munoz at the home, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. The case is almost 50 years old and remains unsolved. Many, if not most should be considered armed and dangerous. Recording of Minty: He just sat there quietly at the defense table the entire time. The OSBI later identified the An article almost 15 years later cites the grand jurys final decision, saying, We have investigated any and all complaints against the district attorney or his office and find them without merit., Recording of Ken: Some people just couldnt believe that a police officer had done something like this and of course I didnt believe it at first. Grady. I said my dad has been in Norman all day. Detectives are actively completing a thorough and detailed investigation. He had a .22 caliber rifle in his locker at the Norman Police Department and also has several pistols of this caliber in his residence in Norman. Recording of Kayla: Is that difficult to do?, Recording of Brake: Let me tell you, its not difficult to do for a true sociopath., K: Ex-policeman appears victim of hate plot, headlines a June 2, 1970 article in the Norman Transcript. One: Why a man with an aggravated assault charge in Texas had been hired as a Norman cop? Its every single step we take in our evidence transfer or testing or anything and is logged in a computer system. Henslee said he had fired Gilley a few days after the murders because of the tip that Gilley liked to harass couples on lovers lanes, but also said he had never seen any physical evidence to this day that ties Gilley to the crime., Recording of Ken: One of the comments Henslee made was that he didnt have enough power to influence a murder investigation. WebThis horrific crime happened on June 13, 1977 at Camp Scott in Mayes County. Henslee said he thought Gilley was the target of a hate plot and a smear campaign. He hoped to become director of the OSBI, Jacobson said, and a mark like this on someones record could derail a rising career. 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. So I think that helped cloud their decision was the fact they thought he was guilty by a good percentage that he was guilty, probably enough to convict. NORMAN, Okla. - Special agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation have arrested a man in connection to the murder of a woman who was found at Lake Thunderbird. In the safe we found some more weapons, one of them was a sawed-off shotgun, which is illegal. When the husband went to court, it was speculated that Gilley was involved, that maybe he had tipped off the husband to the affair. Witnesses were dying, people were moving or losing track of them. Description: DISTURBANCE/DOMESTIC. A monthslong extradition fight began, ending in May 1991 with Gilley being brought to the Cleveland County jail. K: Articles about the murders were all over the central Oklahoma news, and Linda said her family was asked to do multiple interviews those next few days. Maybe altered and those things would be extremely difficult to occur today based on the procedures that are in place.. 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. I tell Judy, They found her! 112 GREAT OAKS DR, NORMAN, OK 73071 Property Report 145441690 Then Mr. Gilley said are you accusing me of stealing your $10? I think when you ask around about other places or just other people that are in this profession when they talk about getting hired at Norman youll learn that our process is a lot harder and a lot more scrutinizing than a lot of places We still do psychological testing. 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. Henslee never did get his promotion to be the director of the OSBI. Recording of Ken: Well it was open but they didnt do anything on it The agent that was signed to that after I left, I doubt if he did half a dozen interviews. K: The defense strategy was one of continual questioning. Of course Gilley passed the polygraph and we didnt get to talk to him or anything.. We never found anyone from Daves family to speak to like this, so we were given a much clearer look at the Benham family from Lindas vivid recollections of almost 50 years ago. Police are still investigating the homicides of Elijah Mothershed, his fiancee Carnesha Powell and their daughter Roshawna Stevens. I think he started his lovers lane harassment and I think David recognized him. Weve got pictures of them but thats it. Recording of Brake:Sheriff Johnston said he believed Gilley was very much capable of committing the type of crime that is involved in this case, he said in his opinion, GIlley was a very sadistic personality.. Recording of Linda: I thought, Ive seen you. Everytime I just about get it out of my head, somebody calls and says weve got a guy that thinks hes got the gun. Another unsolved case is that of 2-year-old Riah Thomas. K: Thats David Pearo, the lead case investigator for the Norman Police Department in the 1990s. The violent crime rate in Norman is 289.4 per 100,000 people. Police said the double-murder occurred late Tuesday night in this University of Oklahoma community 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. NORMAN, Okla. (KOKH) Police identified the suspect in a homicide and officer-involved shooting in Norman that happened earlier this month. They patted each other on the back, good to see you, and all that stuff. And we were brought up, we went to church, my dad was a Mason. 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. Its been 48 years and the case has been closed and reopened, seen two grand juries and one trial. WebHome / Select Cities / 2023 Comparing Bakersfield, CA vs. Norman, OK 2023 Compare Crime Rates: Bakersfield, CA vs Norman, OK Change Cities : Bakersfield, CA: Norman, OK: United Investigators were also dealing with the biases of the Norman community. The Norman Police Department said it didnt hold any officials records back that far that we could use to verify specific details. NOTES: GRADY CO K: This is Dave Pearo, a Norman police officer from 1981 to 2004. I can talk about it now, I can., Recording of Kayla: Why do you think that is? Its seized, its packaged. They walked up and down the field, finding a few things more bullets, mostly. Recording of Ken: So we showed them photographs and they picked Gilley We ended up with seven couples, 14 kids, that picked Gilleys picture out that claimed this had happened to them on Lovers Lane.. He brought up the likelihood that Butch Green, his former partner who died a year after the murders, was the real potential suspect. Recording of Ken: There was just like half a dozen guys on the police department that would even talk to us. WebMost accurate 2021 crime rates for Norman, OK. TWO FOUND DEAD IN TRUNK. Those five words, in large bold font, headlined a story on the bottom right corner of the May 12 front page. This one kind of absorbs you. WebAllegations of obstruction and cover-ups have plagued the Norman Police Department in the years since the murders, but changes made hope to rectify those concerns. I had an awful time letting go of it. . We were very close. Henslee is quoted saying this in multiple articles and testimonies. Why? According to articles, testimonies and interviews, Henslee was worried. But as 1970 wore on, other facts started showing up that were strange, Jacobson told us, describing them as being too many coincidences to not be connected. They covered for one another and allowed scandals and corruption to be swept under the rug. Recording of Pearo: So we went to De Soto, went in his house, we found a gun safe in his house that we couldnt get in to Frank was at work, so we got a locksmith to come out and get us in the safe. Well we thought that was unusual because Frank lived in Amarillo.. And even though these statements were coming in after the murders of Sheryl and David, police were including pictures of Gilley. Recording of Pearo: Frank had rented a house from this guy and he brings in this .22 caliber rifle.. I hope he died alone and a very painful death. What happens next leaves him and his family reeling while the Norman Police Department begins investigation. 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 They just couldnt get past the death penalty portion., Recording of Brake: I think there were people on that jury who said I believe he did it but I can not send him to the electric chair When NPD first contacted me back then and said they were going to try and revitalize the case and they started running through all the material again, I remember sitting down there in the homicide office down in Norman with the file sitting on the desk between us saying Its great what you guys are doing but I dont think you can nail him. Pearo said investigators were discouraged by how the case was previously handled, but when they met up with original case detectives like Ken Jacobson, it was a new opportunity for collaboration. Thats what I wish., Recording of Linda: Oh hey, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, it was so hard for me. K: The phone call from the Amarillo TV station eventually prompted some case investigators to seriously look into Gilley. Two years later, it seems like charges might be put against Gilley, but nothing is certain. Map Browse By State But agents like Ken Jacobson didnt believe that and kept investigating. K: The first full day of the July hearing had testimony from seven witnesses, including Gilleys parents, a former wife and the Norman police chief from the 1970s, Bill Henslee. Decades of investigations followed, creating ripples in the Norman community still felt today. There was every bit of circumstantial case you could have wanted to the point of you have to ask, who else in the world could have done it? Crime at 6400 BLOCK OF 36TH AVENUE NW on 02/19/2023 1:20 PM. When the OSBI, along with the Norman Police Department and the Cleveland County Sheriffs Office, found the bodies on Monday, May 11, Sheryl and David had been missing for just over 24 hours. Recording of Brake: Wish we could have put the son of a bitch in the electric chair.. Thats when we realized this case was more than a pair of untimely deaths. 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. Six: Why Gilley was allowed to resign days after the murders? In the following months, officers deliberated how best to pin Gilley down for the murders. If you come across them, do not attempt to apprehend them yourself. K: When Jacobson and the team of investigators finally have enough evidence to put real pressure on Gilley, they run into opposition from Henslee and other Oklahoma law enforcement. After President Richard Nixon announced plans to invade Cambodia, riots, protests and demonstrations broke out all over the country.

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