WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. It chronicles what Gilley called a scandal, telling detectives and reporters there was a plot against him. Recording of Ken: I dont know. And the further you get into it, the further you want to get into it. It was private enough for young couples to park their cars and be intimate. But Jacobson, never did let go of the case. 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. The twister tossed vehicles around including one on top of another. Detectives are actively completing a thorough and detailed investigation. 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. He had showed me all of these at one time or another and also offered to loan them to me. He might have fired most of the ammunition from it already and he doesnt have the firepower to kill them both. Im Kayla Branch. Recording of Pearo: So what we had done in retrospect was probably a mistake. Now you dont die right away from a wound in the lung unless there is a major artery hit. So if you come across something at a department where something may have beentried to be swept under the rug because the department didnt want to look bad, the current chief or sheriff didnt want to look bad for whatever reason you might think that happens. It was the first night of Girl Scout camp when 3 young girls were killed and sexually molested. On Thursday. The verdict was inevitable in my opinion. 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. 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. The judge for the jury was the former Cleveland County DA who had previously refused to go after Gilley, Jacobson said. 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.. Today, that house is tall and long, bricked at the bottom. K: We heard this again from Brake, who had a copy of the official police reports Ken filed the day they found the bodies. He sent it to the Norman mayor, the DA and even Mike Brake, who still has an original copy. Oklahoma is 10.8% cheaper than Norman, Oklahoma. Sheryls family started thinking of possibilities of what could have happened. What more do you want me to say?, Recording of Linda: What all he did to how many people after Sherry and Dave? And theres probably a million cases like that This one is really unique in that it involved a police officer and I think that if we had had 100 percent cooperation from the get go, that we could have cleared it., K: It wasnt until 1972 that the case seemed like it might pick back up again. Not only does the department interact with the Norman community on a more regular basis, but the hiring protocols for officers have completely changed. 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. We flipped through the following days, seeing article after article following police officials and community groups. It may have been almost 50 years since the murders, but Linda said it rarely feels that long. I think he was but was not dying or dead, maybe not even dying. Many thought a cop would never commit such a crime. An officer who cut into the plastic detected an odor that they could identify with a decomposing human corpse.. Recording of Pearo: Ken never gave up on the case. I spent an awful lot of time on it in 1970, 73 but after that it just.. Recording of Kayla: Puttered out. And we think that was sort of a mistake because of what the jurors said in some of their questionnaires. We were never able to get in contact with any of these family members, though. They said he had no family, no visitors, I hope he didnt. Munoz told detectives he moved into the home in 2019, and allowed a friend, Octavio Sanchez, 34, to store items in the basement. Witnesses were dying, people were moving or losing track of them. WebCBS News Six people were killed in a series of shootings Friday in northwestern Mississippi, authorities said. Did they find Sherry? Yes. K: Thats David Pearo, the lead case investigator for the Norman Police Department in the 1990s. K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. After picking Sheryl up at her Oklahoma City home, the pair drove down to Norman to attend a party at Daves fraternity. K: Boden and her date Rick had been west of Norman, in the same area that David and Sheryl were just 30 days earlier. The Girl Scout Murders of 1977 still remains unsolved to The murders of David Sloan and Sheryl Benham remain unsolved. 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 hope he died alone and a very painful death. 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.. K: Almost two days later, their belongings were found dropped in and around Daves car, a 1966 Pontiac GTO. Well we thought that was unusual because Frank lived in Amarillo.. whos who and what do I need to do to keep a job or to get that promotion. 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. 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. At the end of episode four, police called Frank Gilley at work and told him to hurry home. Hundreds of thousands of college students were protesting the Vietnam War. The family was polite and helpful after the murders, but wanted more than anything to just move on. Many, if not most should be considered armed and dangerous. Keep in mind that they had been at a fraternity party at the SAE house. My mind was, Where could I go, what couldve happened? She drove me to Norman. K: A few months into the investigation, detectives persuaded Henslee to give Gilley a second polygraph test. 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. He hoped to become director of the OSBI, Jacobson said, and a mark like this on someones record could derail a rising career. Address: 6400 BLOCK OF 36TH AVENUE NW, Norman, OK. View Source Square with arrow pointing upper right. He was married multiple times and had a few children. It was another disappointing end again.. One: Why a man with an aggravated assault charge in Texas had been hired as a Norman cop? Well And they are locked in the trunk now, what are they going to do. She talked about Sheryl like this every time we had a phone call. Recording of Linda: This was one of the weirdest things ever. Type in Norman, OK in the upper left address window, then click on Go to Address.. So he passed the polygraph. K: Police had starting investigating where Sheryl and David could have been after Sheryls dad filed the missing persons report. WebCrime Map. K: Undeterred by the two passed polygraphs, investigators kept digging. Henslee never did get his promotion to be the director of the OSBI. 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. 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. We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. In the following months, officers deliberated how best to pin Gilley down for the murders. Re-reading articles and court documents, its clear he challenged every step of the trial. 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 I think he just thought it was embarrassing to have the guy being investigated.. The highest number of murders were reported on 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. The only thing we had to work with was the shell casing that had been ejected, and the firing pin makes a distinct impression on the shell casing, and this one was unusual But we could never match them. They were spurred on by the initial evidence; the assault charge, Henslee hiring Gilley out of line with protocols and Gilley disappearing. The state Medical Examiners Office confirmed the body as that of Sandoval. Recording of Minty: He just sat there quietly at the defense table the entire time. Jacobson and a few other agents, like Norman detective Floyd Nash, dedicated themselves to finding enough hard proof to convict Gilley. Words he said he believes she would have said.. Gilley took the test four days after the bodies were found. When I googled the names of those involved, dozens of articles popped up, spanning decades. 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. K: Linda told us about her dad, overcome with anger and sadness, jumping in the car one night a few months after the murders to go find Frank Gilley himself. WebGet full property details, plus crime rates, environmental hazards, natural disaster risks and more at HomeDisclosure.com 145441690. But it was one that, it was kind of a taboo subject., Recording of Kayla: Why? Im Kayla Branch and Ill be your host as we hear stories and first-hand accounts from those involved with the case. Two days later, testimony began. 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. Instead call the Cleveland County Sheriff at 405-701-7700. Not only does the department interact with the Norman community on a more regular basis, but the hiring protocols for officers have completely changed. So got a lot of fire power.. And then he goes on duty and comes back in the police car and finishes them off., Recording of Brake: And you notice there were a couple bullet holes in the fenders of the car. The grand jury Sheryls father had requested would finally convene. Shortly afterward, he heard gunshots. According to newspaper articles in the Norman Transcript from that first week, David was set to graduate the upcoming December with a business administration degree and then be commissioned through the Naval ROTC. I think thats what happened and the autopsy points to that as well. It was like, Hey look, that case will probably never go anywhere, so forget that one, you can look at the rest of them. And then all of a sudden one day, he said he found it. Well pick back up the day the bodies were found. 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. The OU Daily, in a new podcast series called Uncovered, investigated a pair of murders that took place May 9, 1970 in Norman. 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. Murders, but Linda said it rarely feels that long anything to just move on,!, I dont have any.22 caliber weapons, I never owned one I. Of David Sloan and Sheryl Benham remain unsolved probably a mistake are actively a... 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