murders in norman, oklahoma

Because there was not a hard piece of evidence to put him on the trigger. I can talk about it now, I can., Recording of Kayla: Why do you think that is? 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.. Grady. Grady 2 Views. Some guy said that to me and I kinda went off on him a little bit.. WebThis horrific crime happened on June 13, 1977 at Camp Scott in Mayes County. He resigned and worked for an amusements company before being hired at the Norman Police Department, according to articles in the Norman Transcript. Way past that 1991 trial. And my mother still to this day, Why did she give that to me? Was there a premonition, I dont know, no one will ever know.. He was detained briefly and released. Recording of Minty: He just sat there quietly at the defense table the entire time. WebThis Cleveland County Oklahoma Most Wanted List posts the top 50-100 fugitive criminals on the run. 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. When Gilley started work for the Norman police, he was described by other officers as just having shown up one day. I would just bawl. 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. The murders of David Sloan and Sheryl Benham remain unsolved. The Norman Police Department begins investigations into the crime and receives tips on who might have been involved with the killings. Gilley said he had never met Sloan. K: They talked to other officers he worked with and they said he liked to run gulleys, a slang term for driving through lovers lane areas and harassing teens. Two days later, testimony began. He said yes Do you know if Gilley owned or had in his possession any .22 caliber weapons? After 20 years, they couldnt see putting a guy to death. 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: For Ken Jacobson, that was his introduction to the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan. WebNORMAN, Okla. Norman police on Thursday released the identities of two men who died in an apparent murder-suicide. 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. Authorities found a 9mm handgun inside a trash can in the garage, according to an arrest warrant. This one kind of absorbs you. It was like, Hey look, that case will probably never go anywhere, so forget that one, you can look at the rest of them. Well, we shared the same bedroom. An old pool cue, broken in half, was in the front seat. But he signed off on the search warrant.. Its been 48 years and the case has been closed and reopened, seen two grand juries and one trial. Months went by without a response or a jury. He was tall with thick brown hair and a lean build. K: We heard this again from Brake, who had a copy of the official police reports Ken filed the day they found the bodies. K: Next time, on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. She did have a couple of chest wounds, but there was not a lot of bleeding internally in that. 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. The call came from a TV station in Amarillo, Texas, a few days after the murders. Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in Norman is 1 in 316 and property crime is 1 in 32. We walked into his office and we had our probable cause for the search warrant and then he kind of looked at the case and looked when it was and said, Trails kind of cold, isnt it boys? and we said yeah.. And he answered a crucial question about why the case came into the spotlight again after nearly 20 years since the initial investigation. K: That was the voice of Mike Brake, the reporter from the Oklahoma Journal who covered the Sheryl Benham-David Sloan case in the early 70s. K: The caliber of the weapon that killed Dave and Sheryl. He might have fired most of the ammunition from it already and he doesnt have the firepower to kill them both. Using the testimonies from other young couples and from Butch Green, they eventually secured a warrant to search Gilleys home in Amarillo in December of 1970. And over the years, when we went back and started looking for those things, the OSBI couldnt locate them. The twister tossed vehicles around including one on top of another. Well pick back up the day the bodies were found. What more do you want me to say?, Recording of Linda: What all he did to how many people after Sherry and Dave? And then, on the last full day of trial, on Friday, Nov. 8, Perrine put Gilley on the stand. Did Henslee know about the assault charge? And then he said something about Well you couldnt even convict him again or something like that. 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. She talked about Sheryl like this every time we had a phone call. 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. I just dont think its there. Turns out I was right. He was only on the force for three years, mostly focused on this one case. 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. A monthslong extradition fight began, ending in May 1991 with Gilley being brought to the Cleveland County jail. My mother finally said, Ive got to call Ms. Sloan and tell her what is going on. My mother hung up the phone and said, She is on her way.. Cold Cases, Missing and Unsolved Crimes. Witnesses were dying, people were moving or losing track of them. K: Mike Brake, the reporter who covered the case in its earlier days, said the same thing. The place Dave and Sheryl went was popular, though they probably werent expecting to find any company. Who knows.. 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 We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. They were from a .22 caliber weapon. Munoz said he had to call police to get Sanchez to leave. 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 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. Recording of Linda: This was one of the weirdest things ever. 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. youve got this policy thats a lot stronger than some other places. When Davids mom arrived at the Benham house later that Sunday, Linda decided she was going to leave for Norman to see if she could help find Sheryl. It was just gone, all the evidence was just gone.. Theyd see Gilleys pictures in the papers, on TV Amarillos not that big of a town. Two counts of first-degree murder. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Splashed along the front pages of newspapers and TV station headlines were two words: not guilty. Gilleys attorney, Robert Perrine, said most of the evidence was not conclusive. I spent an awful lot of time on it in 1970, 73 but after that it just.. Recording of Kayla: Puttered out. Thats what I wish., Recording of Linda: Oh hey, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, it was so hard for me. Christopher Sanders. Of course Gilley passed the polygraph and we didnt get to talk to him or anything.. Ten-Mile Flats is the official name of the area that was home to many of Normans secluded roads, which were commonly known as Lovers Lanes. 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.. By early morning Sunday, Sheryls dad had driven to Norman to speak with police and report her missing. Norman investigators tried to use these charges to connect Gilley with Sheryl and Daves murders, but in the end, nothing ever came of that either. Now detectives believed themselves to be without any physical evidence. I hope he died alone and a very painful death. WebForty years ago this month, Oklahoma suffered one of its most horrific murder scenes near the small town of Locust Grove. Now you dont die right away from a wound in the lung unless there is a major artery hit. WebOn Feb. 13, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation opened a suspicious death investigation after remains were found at the lake in Norman. K: The phone call from the Amarillo TV station eventually prompted some case investigators to seriously look into Gilley. During the May 14 search of Sanchezs home, authorities made contact with Sanchez near his garage. W. E. Joslin, a worker on the Norman dairy farm owned by Charles Haynes in western Norman, said he arrived at the property, which has a view of the lovers lane where David and Sheryl were killed, at about 3 a.m. to go to work on Mothers Day 1970. As the night hours of May 9 wear on, Sheryls dadbecomes worried. Jacobson and a few other agents, like Norman detective Floyd Nash, dedicated themselves to finding enough hard proof to convict Gilley. K: The lost evidence and the hiring of Gilley in the first place played major roles in the Benham-Sloan case, but so did the alleged obstruction by the various law enforcement agencies. 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. 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. K: Lubbock and Amarillo are nearly two hours away from each other. 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. I tell Judy, They found her! 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. He gets the rifle, which is a high capacity rifle, a .22 rifle might have a magazine of 22 rounds or more. Sherry and I, yes. I had an awful time letting go of it. It was private enough for young couples to park their cars and be intimate. And now youve seen me.. 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. Recording of Brake: He answered the relevant question truthful. As he was leaving the barn about 7 a.m., he saw two men standing next to two parked cars. I didnt really want to, but I thought itll be pretty easy; I live in Midwest City and Ill drive down there and we can process that car in an hour or two. WebOklahoma Bookings. Decades of investigations followed, creating ripples in the Norman community still felt today. K: This was the same polygraph Henslee had Gilley take shortly after the murders, the test Henslee said proved Gilleys innocence. Recording of Ken: It turns out, there werent that many people working toward the same goal., Recording of Brake: Frank Gilley did it. The Girl Scout Murders of 1977 still remains unsolved to Now Im almost like, not mad, I dont wanna use that word but damn, I wish they had had DNA back then.. Instead call the Cleveland County Sheriff at 405-701-7700. K: Many of the individuals named in our investigation died within 10 or 15 years of the case going to trial. So he passed the polygraph. Pearo also testified, noting that almost all the evidence from the crime scene had disappeared, except one bullet casing. While Sandoval lived with Sanchez and his wife, there were multiple reports filed with law enforcement and state agencies, investigators said. I dont anymore. Recording of Linda: I dont know how to explain that. 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. And so were not letting that go. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. Now, Gilley was living in Amarillo, presumably with his parents, Jacobson told us. I was taken into his car and handcuffed to be taken to the jail, along with some of the other boys . Then Mr. Gilley said are you accusing me of stealing your $10? He told Rick that it would cost us a $20 fine each or he would have to take us down As he was leaning up against the car, he asked me, and this was one of the first things he said, eh asked me if Rick and I had ever gone all the way together or something like that. K: He kept the Benhams updated on the case. Potter County, where Gilley was working directly before he came to Norman, covers the northern half of Amarillo. Davids keys, wallet and shoes were all missing, too. I told him we hadnt. Sloans was in Amarillo at the First Presbyterian Church that Wednesday. WebIf you reside in Norman, then there is a 1 in 321 chance that you will experience a violent crime. 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. Mr. Gilley asked him another question and the boy answered it. 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. WebNORMAN, Okla. Police have identified the two people killed in a double-homicide in Norman. Other officers also took the stand, saying Gilley kept several guns in his work locker at the police department, one of which was a .22 caliber rifle with a hexagon barrel, the specific caliber of weapon used in the murders. And we were brought up, we went to church, my dad was a Mason. It was the summer after Woodstock and Americas counterculture was thriving. 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.. Dallas in De Soto, Texas, in the early 90s. The murders are intrinsically tied to the decade they occurred the type of technology available for investigations, the loss of trust in police and the beginnings of harsh public scrutiny into government bodies. And even though the gun turned over by Gilleys landlord wasnt the murder weapon, it gave Pearo a path to officially reopen the case. On the way up, Mr. Gilley made several remarks to the Mexican, one remark was that he didnt like his face. Recording of Brake: 200 people. Police traveled to the WebCrime in Norman, Oklahoma. 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. I think he just thought it was embarrassing to have the guy being investigated.. Hes reading a statement from a boy in Amarillo who witnessed a crucial altercation involving Frank Gilley. 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