With the information from the previous investigation, the gun turning up and interviews with every single original witnesses, except one that died, detectives decided to try and get a warrant to search Gilleys De Soto residence. On the night of the murders , his car logged only about 30. Joshua Bookout. In the safe we found some more weapons, one of them was a sawed-off shotgun, which is illegal. K: This is Dave Pearo, a Norman police officer from 1981 to 2004. WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. 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. Margarita Sandoval was 19 years old when family first reported her missing in 2018. The highest number of murders were reported on Crime news across America. 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 Click on the image below to view the Lexis Nexis Community Crime map. I dont think she was shot at that point. NORMAN Investigators arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird last Monday. He was tall with thick brown hair and a lean build. Recording of Ken: Its my opinion that there were a lot of folks working against us. 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. Recording of Brake: 200 people. K: Gilley had a clean official record until this incident in 1968. The charges: One count of perjury. That's 22.24% higher than the national rate of 2,346.0 per 100,000 people Map Browse By State This meant that investigators were not only working a difficult case, but also working against bosses and colleagues, politics and public perception. K: After finding the car and the bodies, officers from all of the agencies came together to sweep the area. Recording of Kayla: Can you speak about the relationship between Henslee and Gilley? Property Crime Rates In Norman 3,261 Property Crimes 2,578.3 Property Crimes / 100k People 31.67% Above National Average 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 This was a disappointment, but it paled in comparison to the news detectives received when they went to the OSBI to retrieve the rest of the case evidence. 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. 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. But he signed off on the search warrant.. Come on home. So I hung up. 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. 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. They checked his police car, finding that on an average night, he would drive well over 100 miles on patrol. And then he comes back. Recording of Brake: He contacted somebody here, said theres a guy in your town there who was a bad apple out here, who is known for messing with Lovers Lane couples, and they started checking into him and found out he is on probation and shouldnt have ever been hired by the Norman Police Department in the first place., Recording of Ken: Frank made a couple of comments to me after the bodies were taken out of the car. K: The phone call from the Amarillo TV station eventually prompted some case investigators to seriously look into Gilley. According to the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, 30-year-old Austin Blake Godwin was booked into the Cleveland County jail early Wednesday, shortly after surrendering himself at the 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. So we had him with an illegal weapon there in Dallas County. K: Four days later, Pearo and other officers arrested Gilley at the auto parts store where he worked and booked him once again into the Dallas County jail. .. On June 8, 1970, they had driven down to Norman It says Well we were on a dirt road and had pulled up toward the west to where the sun was going down.. WebOKLAHOMA CITY - Authorities have identified the two men shot in an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday in the backyard of a Norman home. 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. NORMAN, Okla. An Oklahoma man shot and killed his estranged wife and her divorce lawyer, then took his own life, police reported Wednesday. On Tuesday, May 5, the University of Oklahoma Student Association gathered hundreds of students to protest not only the war, but the actions of law enforcement in Ohio. He said yes Do you know if Gilley owned or had in his possession any .22 caliber weapons? Recording of Brake: Henslee, basically, hired Gilley on friendship because Henslee had been in law enforcement in Texas where Gilley was.. He was found to not be involved with the case at all. 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. Born on Dec. 28, 1935, he was in his mid-30s during the early 1970s. It was the summer after Woodstock and Americas counterculture was thriving. Im Kayla Branch and Ill be your host as we hear stories and first-hand accounts from those involved with the case. And the further you get into it, the further you want to get into it. They covered for one another and allowed scandals and corruption to be swept under the rug. I think he was but was not dying or dead, maybe not even dying. David and Sheryl were each shot at least 10 times, and Davids car had multiple bullet holes through the rear of the car and the trunk. 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. Recording of Ken: Frank stood on the porch and he said, Well Rangers can come in, but you guys from Oklahoma cant come in. And the Ranger said, You dont have any choice Frank, these guys are with us and were all coming in. Frank said, I dont have any .22 caliber weapons, I never owned one, I wouldnt have one. Enhanced Cost of Living Calculator Now includes childcare, taxes, health, housing for home owners vs renters, insurance costs and more when you upgrade to premium. K: Jacobson, who had been involved with the case from the very morning the bodies were found, was happy another set of investigators would take up where he left off. WebForty years ago this month, Oklahoma suffered one of its most horrific murder scenes near the small town of Locust Grove. Recording of Ken: As far as physical evidence, evidence is required to sustain a murder conviction, we didnt have any. 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. 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.. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Well start back up with thoughts from Linda Adams, Sheryls older sister. K: NPD responded to public criticism of its officers over the years, said Major Kevin Foster. Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in Norman is 1 in 316 and property crime is 1 in 32. 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. It was us that broke into your house and youre under arrest. So he started looking around and he looked at me and he said, Where are you from? and I said Norman, Oklahoma. And he said I thought so.. They said he had no family, no visitors, I hope he didnt. Gilley took the test four days after the bodies were found. K: The caliber of the weapon that killed Dave and Sheryl. WebWJ Edwards 2-15-39, Convicted of Murder Story 1: Two Are Held in City Death, Shots Blamed on Robbery Fear Two men were held in the city jail Monday and funeral arrangements completed for a third as the aftermath of a shooting Sunday night in a one-room house at 129 West Chickasaw Avenue, Services for [] 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. A tight knit group. 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 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. 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. K: Lubbock and Amarillo are nearly two hours away from each other. A Daily staffer began flipping through pages in our large, dusty archive books. I dont anymore. The three were found dead at a home in northeast Oklahoma City. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. August Murders accounted for 1.5% of all violent crimes and 0.2% of reported index crimes. Because there was not a hard piece of evidence to put him on the trigger. Months went by without a response or a jury. Witnesses were dying, people were moving or losing track of them. Yeah we should do that. The verdict was inevitable in my opinion. 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