Recording of Pearo: Because of the way it was handled back in the 70s and the fact that the main suspect had been a Norman officer. K: From interviews, news articles and court documents, we were able to piece together an outline of that night. Sanchez and his wife lived at the Ann Branden Boulevard apartment until October 2018, according to investigators. Seven: How much Henslee knew but wasnt letting on? Said hes shoot rabbits with it and stuff. 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. The I dont fault them for trying. Then here we can and were visiting it again, making the news again. That's -25.38% lower than the national rate of 387.8 per 100,000 people. K: 1970. Per page 1; 2; 3 > Christopher Sanders. He probably has a .22 pistol. And theyre almost all headshots at that point. Recording of Linda: When I walked into that courtroom in Norman and he was sitting right there, and I was, you know, a foot away from him and saw his face, I just *sharp inhale* Oh God.. But I was. Heres a quote about Sher right there: She loved life and lived to make people happy. Dr. Bailey said he told her young friends that detailing her high moral character and firm Christian beliefs, then urged the crowd especially the young to trust in God. WebExplore recent crime in Norman, OK. SpotCrime crime map shows crime incident data down to neighborhood crime activity including, reports, trends, and alerts. Impersonating an officer today can lead to jail time and thousands of dollars in fines, but in 1971 Gilley didnt spend any time in 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. He spoke of how Gilley admitted to him he did know David before the murders, though Gilley previously testified he had never met David. Description: DISTURBANCE/DOMESTIC. It chronicles what Gilley called a scandal, telling detectives and reporters there was a plot against him. WebThis horrific crime happened on June 13, 1977 at Camp Scott in Mayes County. K: Brake and Jacobson had personal theories they shared with me on exactly what happened the night of the murders. He called us one night and said Franks agreed to take a polygraph and were going to do it in Lubbock. I did not see the flashlight myself, but as he was shoving me out the door, my head hit the door. On May 14, investigators executed a search warrant at Sanchezs home at 1224 Westlawn Dr. and recovered documents showing he and his wife were receiving Social Security benefits intended for Sandoval. JOSEPH WAYNE McCOOL 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.. 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. WebAccording to the most recent data from the FBI, the total crime rate in Norman is 2,867.6 per 100,000 people. He hoped to become director of the OSBI, Jacobson said, and a mark like this on someones record could derail a rising career. 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. The three were found dead at a home in northeast Oklahoma City. And the further you get into it, the further you want to get into it. Soon after he testified, the jury began deliberations. They didnt know anyone new was being hired. The funnel was just one instance of severe weekend weather in various parts of the U.S. And then relayed to me that that rifle actually belonged to his wife so he wasnt lying. Now he is not working at this time. Recording of Foster: One, we have basic requirements of age. Why?, Recording of Brake: I think Gilley was just out there trying to get a glimpse of some boobies and harass some kids like hed done many times before and runs into somebody that knew who he was.. Why that change?, Recording of Foster: Its just due to the public pressures on things and us relooking at things and listening to the public go Oh yeah yeah, that does make sense, that would be a lot better. Episode 1 explores how The Daily came across the story of the two murdered teenagers, David Sloan and Sheryl Benham. The DA at the time, I told him I wanted to file kind of a lesser charge on Gilley, just so hed go to jail, because I thought hed fall to pieces in jail. K: After Ken Jacobson left the OSBI, he eventually started working as security for a company in Dallas. I was able to talk to my supervisor, went up the chain and went to the chief and said Hey look, can we maybe open this case back up and take another look at it, see where we can go with it? He said yeah, but go to the DAs office and talk things over with him.. Were just, you just dont let it go. Jacobson and a few other agents, like Norman detective Floyd Nash, dedicated themselves to finding enough hard proof to convict Gilley. 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. Another unsolved case is that of 2-year-old Riah Thomas. She was 19. We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. K: At this point, as we were learning all of this and trying to connect the dots, we started to have some questions. The jurors came back Monday, Nov. 11 with a verdict. The two stayed there for an unknown amount of time. The call came from a TV station in Amarillo, Texas, a few days after the murders. Case Number: 2023-00010701. Weve got pictures of them but thats it. Maybe altered and those things would be extremely difficult to occur today based on the procedures that are in place.. A Norman man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Wellston woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird, the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation reported Wednesday. But there was not one piece of evidence the jury would go in and say Evidence A says Frank Gilley killed those kids on that night. It just wasnt there, I cant quarrel with the jury even though I hated to see it turn out the way it did.. Its just that willingness to listen and to take action on those things.. 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. Well pick back up the day the bodies were found. And then we were afraid that if we didnt let him know, we wouldnt know when he was coming home. They were from a .22 caliber weapon. 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. They believe the incident started before Gilleys NPD shift started around midnight Saturday. Investigators said Bill Henslee, the Norman police chief at the time, wanted to make sure this case didnt reflect poorly on him or the department. Well start back up with thoughts from Linda, Recording of Kayla: Now what does that mean?, Recording of Pearo: Because of the way it was handled back in the 70s and the fact that the main suspect had been a Norman officer. K: Perrine also focused on technicalities, like Gilley not being read his Miranda Rights at certain points or the lawfulness of using testimony from witnesses who had died before the trial started. WebMost accurate 2021 crime rates for Norman, OK. 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. 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. 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.. After President Richard Nixon announced plans to invade Cambodia, riots, protests and demonstrations broke out all over the country. Get full property details, plus crime rates, environmental hazards, natural disaster risks and more at HomeDisclosure.com 202371154. WebCrime Map. Im Kayla Branch. WebOKLAHOMA CITY - Authorities have identified the two men shot in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday in the backyard of a Norman home. He was arrested early May 6, 1977, after being found by a neighbor asleep outside the bloody apartment. Recording of Pearo: You could see some of the resentment from people who are now adults still going back to their college days and being really critical on the police. 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. The Hippie Era was still blazing, but now, the kids coming of age had become increasingly politically active. Mike Brake, a police reporter for the Oklahoma Journal in 1970, went out to the crime scene with officers. So he opens the trunk and he stands there with the rifle and just starts emptying the rifle into them. K: Thats David Pearo, the lead case investigator for the Norman Police Department in the 1990s. So I think in this case, at least from what Ive been able to read about it, there were a lot of questions about things disappearing or not being there. The state Medical Examiners Office confirmed the body as that of Sandoval. K: This was the same polygraph Henslee had Gilley take shortly after the murders, the test Henslee said proved Gilleys innocence. Christopher Sanders. They walked up and down the field, finding a few things more bullets, mostly. He was taken before a grand jury in Amarillo and indicted, given a suspended sentence and put on probation for an aggravated assault charge, though it was deemed a misdemeanor. A few days after he came here, to the state crime bureau for a polygraph test. The initial investigation putters out after obstruction from local law enforcement agencies. My mom, of course, is there, and I was there with her. Recording of Foster: Back then a lot more of that stuff what went on. 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. Im writing this in hopes that some of the people receiving this letter can provide answers, he typed. This is an 18.6% increase from the previous year. And we were brought up, we went to church, my dad was a Mason. K: But investigators did find .22 caliber weapons in the house, however they were technically owned by Gilleys father. Fraternity parties always being what they were, I suspect David had a few beers., Recording of Jacobson: They tell us David was a hot head and David said youre not the sheriff. Address: 6400 BLOCK OF 36TH AVENUE NW, Norman, OK. View Source Square with arrow pointing upper right. Officers also started looking into Gilleys personal life, interviewing the woman he was married to in the 70s about his whereabouts the night of the murders. This was the only physical evidence in the entire case. K: Investigators on the case soon discovered that Gilley had been hired by Henslee without a background check or fingerprints taken, which we were told were normal hiring steps at the time. It would be the publics first look at new details and theories regarding the case. K: Along with the drive NPD felt to clear its name, the clock was ticking. WebFOX23 spoke with survivors who are just grateful to be alive following Sundays EF-2 tornado that ripped through Norman at around 9:20 p.m. She found the newspaper with the requested photo, but also found what led to the months long Daily investigation into that pair of murders. Brake saved a newspaper article about Sheryls funeral the next day. Police traveled to the 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. Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders is a five-part investigative podcast into the murders of two teenagers in Norman, Oklahoma in 1970. 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. Police questioned Gilley and Henslee, who both said Gilley had never owned a .22 caliber weapon, the type of gun used in the murders. 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 Recording of Linda: I thought, Ive seen you. He asked me if Id ever had sexual intercourse. It sits in a quiet neighborhood. K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. He told me that he still keeps an eye out for talk of the murders, mentioning in particular a message board where he saw people talking about the case. After picking Sheryl up at her Oklahoma City home, the pair drove down to Norman to attend a party at Daves fraternity. K: The defense strategy was one of continual questioning. The next few days were chaos. Recording of Ken: As far as physical evidence, evidence is required to sustain a murder conviction, we didnt have any. 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.. 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. Here, Linda, K: NPD responded to public criticism of its officers over the years, said. 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.. Three, four and five: Why before Gilley was hired, he didnt take a polygraph test, have a background check or enter his fingerprints into the system? In July, a hearing was held to determine whether the case had enough evidence to go to trial. 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. Why? Date: 2/28 #1 stephens co hold. You know You had this last so where is it?. Way past that 1991 trial. And on March 1, 1991, after roughly a month of testimony and deliberation, the second Cleveland County grand jury looking into Gilley returned an indictment. Every issue theyve had including internal affairs investigations at the current agencies theyre with, talking to officers that they work with those agencies also and friends neighbors and things to see if anything else comes up. K: Boden and her date Rick had been west of Norman, in the same area that David and Sheryl were just 30 days earlier. They felt the options were running slim, until February 1991. K: After finding the car and the bodies, officers from all of the agencies came together to sweep the area. Busken was abducted from her Norman apartment complex parking lot the morning of Dec. 20, 1996. She would drive it to work, drive it to see her friends She loved life, she loves everything that everybody did, and she looked for that in people.. Thats what I wish., Recording of Linda: Oh hey, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, it was so hard for me. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. We were told he had been living in a nursing home. Sheryl met David Sloan at Steak and Ale, a restaurant in Oklahoma City where they both worked. An officer who cut into the plastic detected an odor that they could identify with a decomposing human corpse.. He told me that if he asked Rick if I were a virgin and he told him I was and he asked me if I myself was and I told him no. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: Click on the links below to see charts for each crime category. But when you cant because of the way things are done, thats hard.. 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. Recording of Linda: I know justice was not served It was one of the hardest things Ive ever done in my life, cause every day I would drive from Oklahoma City clear to Norman, to the courthouse and you know Kayla, what I heard in that was just even, even proof to me more and more that he did do this.. 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. There arent families like that now, I dont think. 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