Potter County, where Gilley was working directly before he came to Norman, covers the northern half of Amarillo. But again, a guy has knowledge of firearms would pick a .22 to use, you know, all you have to worry about is that firing pin, and if you throw the gun in the river, the evidence is gone. Recording of Pearo: Frank had rented a house from this guy and he brings in this .22 caliber rifle.. We still do polygraph examinations. 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? This was the only physical evidence in the entire case. But this night ended differently. Those pressing to charge Gilley uncover what they believe to be undeniable evidence, but the stakes may have been too high for those who wished to keep Gilley from being arrested. Its every single step we take in our evidence transfer or testing or anything and is logged in a computer system. K: This past spring, our newsroom got a call asking if we could look through our old newspapers to find a picture taken of a Jimi Hendrix concert on campus from the May 12, 1970 paper. 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. Now you dont die right away from a wound in the lung unless there is a major artery hit. So he passed the polygraph. The Recording of Brake: Well the second one, the guys at the Norman Police Department really wanted to solve the darn thing. They felt the options were running slim, until February 1991. So you can get on our little system and see where something is so if something goes missing and then you would have the person transferring the evidence or the criminal list that has the evidence so something goes missing, it would be pretty easy to go in there and pinpoint. Officers with assault charges arent usually allowed to continue policing. Recording of Jacobson: David Sloan was from Amarillo, and when they tried Gilley on his aggravated assault out there, they tried it like a murder case because it was a horrible thing for a law enforcement officer to be accused of aggravated assault. They picked through old evidence and files, contacting anyone who would still have a good recollection of what happened two decades before. 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. 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. 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. Hundreds of court documents back that up. Recording of Brake: 200 people. Way past that 1991 trial. Recording of Foster: One, we have basic requirements of age. K: This is one of the only times we ever came across the Sloan family coming to Norman to be involved with the case. K: Gilley rushed home to a frenzy of officers. Authorities found a 9mm handgun inside a trash can in the garage, according to an arrest warrant. Investigators said Sandoval at one time was placed in Griffin Memorial Hospital for mental health treatment, and on Feb. 17, 2018 she filed a report with Norman police stating Sanchez and his wife were abusing her. But I was. That's 22.24% higher than the national rate of 2,346.0 per 100,000 people Description: DISTURBANCE/DOMESTIC. We talked to more than just that agency to try to uncover those things and those issues such as in this case an issue we had in Amarillo., Recording of Kayla: You mentioned that that was kind of a change. He probably has a .22 pistol. On the last day of the pretrial, one of the most interesting pieces of evidence emerged, though it was never corroborated, when a new witness was called to the stand. Recording of Ken: Its my opinion that there were a lot of folks working against us. He was only on the force for three years, mostly focused on this one case. Two of Gilleys ex-wives testified, saying he never mentioned to them his work in Norman as a police officer, though they knew of his work in Amarillo. Ronald Lee McMullen Jr., who hails from Norman, was charged with first-degree murder after Kailee Jo McMullen was found deceased from a single gunshot wound to the face on the morning of June 29, 2017, according to a People Magazine report. Gilley said he had never met Sloan. She was just, oh, well-respected, very intelligent, just you know My dad was a very strict father, but he, uh, you just knew what to do and what not to do.. Christopher Sanders. 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. Certain convictions you cant have to get hired at a police department. The case is almost 50 years old and remains unsolved. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Not anyone can walk into property custody Everything is labeled and stored and organized at such a different ballgame and so a lot of those concerns about obstruction, evidence, we as an agency have put a lot of safeguards into place to ensure these things are not happening and that there is a trail. And after almost 50 years, she said the pain is more manageable. Thats where Dave would have walked when he came to pick Sheryl up for their date Saturday night. WebIf you reside in Norman, then there is a 1 in 321 chance that you will experience a violent crime. K: Slowly, multiple other young couples started to come forward and they told stories like this one, of being out in a lovers lane area and getting harassed by a man claiming to be with the sheriffs department. Munoz told investigators he knew nothing about a dead body in the basement and gave them his consent to conduct a search. K: Next time, on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. And inside the trunk were the bodies of David and Sheryl, shot and mutilated. I think before when it was brought up, I still hurt so bad and my emotions. When we found Lindas phone number and reached out to her, she had reservations about telling her story to another set of reporters, but she became an invaluable source, sharing personal details from a family struck with tragedy. Recording of Brake: Wish we could have put the son of a bitch in the electric chair.. I think while he was shoving her into the trunk he had to slug her a couple times. K: In the search warrant, officers claimed that Gilley likely still had possession of items from the crime scene, like Davids shoes and car keys, a scrapbook of newspaper articles and personal photos of the scene and possibly the murder weapon. Recording of Ken: Yeah., Recording of Pearo: We had a cold case file and I would go through old homicide cases, not so much as to try to solve them, but to see how guys worked them in the past and that sort of thing.. When he arrived, he was arrested. Tornado hits Norman damaging the electric system and causing power cuts. K: This was the same polygraph Henslee had Gilley take shortly after the murders, the test Henslee said proved Gilleys innocence. Recording of Brake: This is a contact with the Dave Kelley, who was with the DA office in Potter County, Texas. Recording of Pearo: Its always a let down. But agents like Ken Jacobson didnt believe that and kept investigating. Henslee never did get his promotion to be the director of the OSBI. Web9801 DEERFIELD DR, NORMAN, OK 73026 Get a FREE Property Report for this home. Some personal belongings had been strewn around the car, like a bracelet Ken Jacobson, the OSBI investigator from earlier, found and gave back to Sheryls parents. K: From interviews, news articles and court documents, we were able to piece together an outline of that night. Police identified the murder suspect as Isis McMullen. I know who you are, youre Frank Gilley, Recording of Brake: So what I think happened is they stopped there to make some whoopie, and I think maybe Sherry was already undressed when Gilley approached. I call, my dad picks up the phone. 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. Instead call the Cleveland County Sheriff at 405-701-7700. There is no other perpetrator that makes any sense at all, none., Recording of Ken: When you get in a situation like that, you never really think youre going to die. 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. We got out there and the polygrapher is an old Texas Ranger, one of Hensleys buddies. By early morning Sunday, Sheryls dad had driven to Norman to speak with police and report her missing. The two stayed there for an unknown amount of time. We think David recognized him from that trial in Amarillo, Recording of Brake: Heres whats interesting about the autopsy report that told me at the time how I think it transpired. I asked him why and he relayed to me that when he was in Amarillo, he went and would bust the parkers up and make them get out of the car and harass them and then let them go. Recording of Linda: She also loved her first nephew, my son that was living there with us She was just crazy about him She had, believe it or not, she had a blue Mustang, a baby blue Mustang. Get full property details, plus crime rates, environmental hazards, natural disaster risks and more at HomeDisclosure.com 202371154. DNA testing began right around the time this case was reopened for trial, but when it was discovered that almost all of the evidence had disappeared, it didnt matter. As I remember it, they thought he was guilty but after 20 years, you know hes sitting there, Dave and Sheryl had been dead for 20 years. He says he found the gun in Aug. of 1970,, Recording of Pearo: but kept it for 20 years and didnt know that there was any significance to the fact that it was a .22 rifle and that it may have belonged to Gilley So we didnt know if this was the gun or not, but it sort of caught Gilley in a lie. Recording of Linda: Early the next morning, my sister had not come home and we knew something was wrong I remember my mother shaking me saying, Linda, Linda. Im like, What? She said, Have you heard from Sherry? Im like, What are you talking about? And I begin to hear all this, She never came home last night. My very first thought was Oh my god, Sherry, are you in trouble now. My dad was gone before daylight driving to Norman. They covered for one another and allowed scandals and corruption to be swept under the rug. Whoever did that knew about crime scenes and knew about firearms they knew what they were doing. 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.. The Norman Police Department said it didnt hold any officials records back that far that we could use to verify specific details. Investigators were also dealing with the biases of the Norman community. He was detained briefly and released. Recording of Ken: Henslee set it up and at that time, we werent sure if Henslee was for us or against us. Sarah Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Norman Police Department, said the investigation is active and ongoing. She talked about Sheryl like this every time we had a phone call. K: In fact, for 20 years, he, the initial investigator and pursuer of justice, kept a single shell casing in an envelope, one he picked up while walking the fields after finding the bodies of Sheryl and Dave. K: Henslee talked about why Gilley left the Norman police force, saying he asked Gilley to go because the assault charges would make NPD look bad. Yeah we should do that. That's -25.38% lower than the national rate of 387.8 per 100,000 people. And even though the gun turned over by Gilleys landlord wasnt the murder weapon, it gave Pearo a path to officially reopen the case. We were never able to get in contact with any of these family members, though. Video source: Dylan Strilko/WEATHER TRAKER /TMX. I had an awful time letting go of it. And I think he did use time as an ally to just cast some doubt on the allegations that were made and the accuracy of the allegations and the accuracy of the witness recollection. Now detectives believed themselves to be without any physical evidence. Pearo also testified, noting that almost all the evidence from the crime scene had disappeared, except one bullet casing. 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.. Per page 1; 2; 3 > Christopher Sanders. Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in Norman is 1 in 316 and property crime is 1 in 32. 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. As the night hours of May 9 wear on, Sheryls dadbecomes worried. In the safe we found some more weapons, one of them was a sawed-off shotgun, which is illegal. Hes got a big smile, seems confident. So when I walked in there, and they say, Can we help you? And Im just here, My sister is missing and Ive just wondered, and they stopped me and go, What is her name? And when I said Sherry Benham, they turned to me and say, You need to go home. Im like, Well my dad-, No, you need to go home, now. Youre probably gonna think, how could anyone be as nave as I was. Recording of Pearo: So what we had done in retrospect was probably a mistake. We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. Once completed, we will present the case to the District Attorneys office, who will review the case and file the appropriate charges., Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Born on Dec. 28, 1935, he was in his mid-30s during the early 1970s. When the couples started coming to police, investigators put together a line up of photos of officers. K: Brake and Jacobson had personal theories they shared with me on exactly what happened the night of the murders. A few days after he came here, to the state crime bureau for a polygraph test. Some guy said that to me and I kinda went off on him a little bit.. NORMAN 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 three years after she went missing. The next few days were chaos. In the following months, officers deliberated how best to pin Gilley down for the murders. Not only does the department interact with the Norman community on a more regular basis, but the hiring protocols for officers have completely changed. Norman violent crime is 14.7. They left the fraternity house around 11:30 p.m. and went to a place in western Norman known as Lovers Lane. In 1970, Norman was going through a period of growth, but this part of town, out past the main highway and now home to a large residential area with houses and schools, was still just farmland and brush. WebIn April 2004, the Oklahoma Senate, by a vote of 38 to 7, and the Oklahoma House of Representatives, by a vote of 92 to 4, approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.On November 2, 2004, Oklahoma voters approved Oklahoma Question 711, a constitutional amendment which banned same-sex marriage and any "legal incidents Recording of Pearo: Ken never gave up on the case. Keep in mind that they had been at a fraternity party at the SAE house. 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. Grady. Linda, Sheryls older sister by two years, stayed at their family home in Oklahoma City with her mom. On Nov. 21, 1990, officers were able to search Gilleys residence. After the test, Henslee told reporters Gilley was innocent, that the polygraph proved it, and then Gilley packed his bags and resigned from the force that same day. 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. Recording of Ken: There was just like half a dozen guys on the police department that would even talk to us. I said my dad has been in Norman all day. Then here we can and were visiting it again, making the news again. The verdict was inevitable in my opinion. Hes reading a statement from a boy in Amarillo who witnessed a crucial altercation involving Frank Gilley. They were from a .22 caliber weapon. During the May 14 search of Sanchezs home, authorities made contact with Sanchez near his garage. K: For Ken Jacobson, that was his introduction to the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan. He was working as a recent recruit to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in 1970 and was assigned to the case full time. When he came to pick Sheryl up for their date Saturday night 50 years she. 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