Sloans was in Amarillo at the First Presbyterian Church that Wednesday. K: Undeterred by the two passed polygraphs, investigators kept digging. Its been 48 years and the case has been closed and reopened, seen two grand juries and one trial. Forty years ago, Gregory W. Canatis got into a fight with his father in their Midwest City apartment and killed him with a brand-new butcher knife. Seven: How much Henslee knew but wasnt letting on? Gilley was white, 5-foot-8 and close to 180 pounds. They believe the incident started before Gilleys NPD shift started around midnight Saturday. I hope he died alone and a very painful death. Back to Brake reading Bodens statement: Recording of Brake: We watched it go down and when it was down, we were still there for a few minutes and a car drove by and I didnt see it but Rick did. Date: 2/28 #1 stephens co hold. Recording of Brake: Henslee, basically, hired Gilley on friendship because Henslee had been in law enforcement in Texas where Gilley was.. If you see them, do not try and apprehend them yourself as they are most likely armed and dangerous. Im Kayla Branch, and when we left off in episode one, the murders of David Sloan and Sheryl Benham had just happened after they left a fraternity party in Norman. My mom, of course, is there, and I was there with her. His secretary had said he got mail, so we think he called that old sheriff out there and said write me a letter from Frank and date it back.. But handwritten here, in Ken Jacobsons handwriting, Gilley made a verbal statement on 5-12-70 to this agent that he was personally acquainted with Sloan and had trouble with that wise punk in Amarillo two or three times.. Maybe hes just gone away and somebody will rescue them or find them. 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. We still do a complete background on these people talking to everybody looking at everything. Case Number: 2023-00010701. WebNORMAN, Okla. Norman police on Thursday released the identities of two men who died in an apparent murder-suicide. NOTES: STEPHENS CO. More Info. Dallas in De Soto, Texas, in the early 90s. Margarita Sandoval was 19 years old when family first reported her missing in 2018. By early morning Sunday, Sheryls dad had driven to Norman to speak with police and report her missing. 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. Gilleys attorney, Robert Perrine, said most of the evidence was not conclusive. K: NPD responded to public criticism of its officers over the years, said Major Kevin Foster. Whoever did that knew about crime scenes and knew about firearms they knew what they were doing. 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. Benham did write the letter on May 11, 1971, exactly one year after the body of his daughter and her date were found in the trunk of Daves car. 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. The Norman Police Department begins investigations into the crime and receives tips on who might have been involved with the killings. K: The new team of investigators led by Pearo took the gun and ran tests, but it came back without a match. 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. A daughter of an ex-wife said Gilley told her he had killed someone and kept a diary of old cases with pictures of dead bodies. WebThis horrific crime happened on June 13, 1977 at Camp Scott in Mayes County. Henslee claimed that he had gotten a letter of recommendation from one of Gilleys old bosses, but OSBI agent Ken Jacobson said when case detectives asked him to show them the letter, he couldnt find it. 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. Thousands gathered for a demonstration on the Kent State University campus in Ohio. They felt the options were running slim, until February 1991. An old pool cue, broken in half, was in the front seat. And then relayed to me that that rifle actually belonged to his wife so he wasnt lying. 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. Recording of Linda: I dont know how to explain that. Hogue is now charged with first-degree murder in her sons death. These types of crimes may include homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and physical And about 10 or 15 minutes later, we looked up and dont know how long this guy had been standing there, but we looked up and there was a man standing there and he had a badge and he showed it to us. WebNorman Cleveland County Oklahoma Arrests, Warrants & Most Wanted. Recording of Ken: I dont know. I told him we hadnt. Pearo and Jacobson worked closely at times, and as Pearo found out more about the case, his determination to give Sheryl and David justice mimicked his predecessor. We flipped through the following days, seeing article after article following police officials and community groups. They covered for one another and allowed scandals and corruption to be swept under the rug. FOX23 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. Gilleys parents testified he was at his home the night of the murders, but his former wife said she couldnt confirm where he was that night. She talked about Sheryl like this every time we had a phone call. I did not see the flashlight myself, but as he was shoving me out the door, my head hit the door. Recording of Brake: Henslee, I think, after the murder happened, I think he thought right away Oh this guy might have done it and Im going to look terrible for hiring him, so lets just get him the heck out of town. So Henslee was in cover up mode at that point. Now Im almost like, not mad, I dont wanna use that word but damn, I wish they had had DNA back then.. When I first heard that, there was a little bit of shock and, as I read further, a little bit of intrigue. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. The sawed-off shotgun allowed them to arrest him for an illegal weapons charge, but eventually he was released to go home in Desoto, Texas. 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 What more do you want me to say?, Recording of Linda: What all he did to how many people after Sherry and Dave? I think he locked them in the trunk after wounding David., Recording of Brake: I think at this point hes just got the little .22 pistol. At the end of episode four, police called Frank Gilley at work and told him to hurry home. View on Google Maps Street View. When police got there, the crime scene had been swept clean. K: This is Linda Adams, the older sister of Sheryl Benham. WebCrime Statistics. 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.. Recording of Ken: Its amazing to me the interest thats continued in this case. He was going to drive to Amarillo, Texas, and kill him. Grady. Sheryl met David Sloan at Steak and Ale, a restaurant in Oklahoma City where they both worked. K: For Ken Jacobson, that was his introduction to the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan. Recording of Minty: He just sat there quietly at the defense table the entire time. K: The Norman Police Department also changed its evidence protocols, said Sarah Jensen, the public information officer for NPD. Recording of Ken: One of the hardest things about something like this is what you know happened but you cant prove it. K: Almost two days later, their belongings were found dropped in and around Daves car, a 1966 Pontiac GTO. WebExplore recent crime in Norman, OK. SpotCrime crime map shows crime incident data down to neighborhood crime activity including, reports, trends, and alerts. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. Dave Pearo and some of those guys, they really wanted to go after it.. The last known report was on April 16, 2018, investigators said. On March 8, 1972, the grand jury met for the first time in Cleveland County to listen to witness testimonies and decide if there were any charges that could be filed against Gilley or if there was mishandling they could hold the local law agencies accountable for. Recording of Ken: As far as physical evidence, evidence is required to sustain a murder conviction, we didnt have any. They picked through old evidence and files, contacting anyone who would still have a good recollection of what happened two decades before. .. 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.. Because there was not a hard piece of evidence to put him on the trigger. whos who and what do I need to do to keep a job or to get that promotion. Sloans ex-girlfriend, who helped find the car after Ben Benham reported his daughter missing, told the jury she drove to the lovers lane area and happened upon the car, but left and reported it to police when she realized there was blood in the front seat and she smelled what she described in news articles as the smell of death. The medical examiner explained in detail how Dave and Sheryl died, both shot over 10 times, including bullets fired directly into each of their eyes. Sarah Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Norman Police Department, said the investigation is active and ongoing. Authorities found a 9mm handgun inside a trash can in the garage, according to an arrest warrant. She suggested we go to the police station and see if anythings come up. Frank wanted you to know that he was on top of everything and that he was better than these other guys.. I had an awful time letting go of it. K: By this point, it had been over a year since the murders and the small group of dedicated investigators had spent hundreds of hours on the case. At the end of episode two, we first heard the name Frank Gilley as a possible suspect in the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan in early May of 1970. Recording of Brake: 200 people. I think he just thought it was embarrassing to have the guy being investigated.. 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. Its not that we know everything and that the other side of that is us hearing it but its that the public is coming to us and telling us because in the past, a lot of people didnt, it didnt affect them they didnt care or if it was affecting them they was too afraid to come to the police because theys like Ill just be in more trouble if I try to tell them were doing some wrong. -36.90% lower than the Oklahoma violent crime rate of 458.6 per 100,000 people. The next few days were chaos. 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. 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. FOX23 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. He called us one night and said Franks agreed to take a polygraph and were going to do it in Lubbock. Detectives are actively completing a thorough and detailed investigation. WebForty years ago this month, Oklahoma suffered one of its most horrific murder scenes near the small town of Locust Grove. I dont think she was shot at that point. And then we were afraid that if we didnt let him know, we wouldnt know when he was coming home. WebThis Cleveland County Oklahoma Most Wanted List posts the top 50-100 fugitive criminals on the run. Recording of Ken: But we jumped in the car in Oklahoma City and drove out to Lubbock, drove all night. 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. Im Kayla Branch and at the end of episode three, investigators had taken testimonies from 14 young adults who came forward claiming Frank Gilley had harassed them while they parked on lovers lanes. K: A few days in, the couples that identified Gilley in 1970 as the man who harassed them on Lovers Lanes told the grand jury Gilley had mentioned the murders of David and Sheryl to them when he approached their cars. WebGet full property details, plus crime rates, environmental hazards, natural disaster risks and more at HomeDisclosure.com 145441690. And they did a good job, far as cleaning it up and everything.. David came to OU as a student from Amarillo, Texas, in 1966. The cloudy past of the man suspected for the murders is investigated in episode 3, as well as the beginnings of a cover-up, a retracted alibi and testimony from various couples who were also harassed on Lovers Lanes. The case is almost 50 years old and remains unsolved. A Daily staffer began flipping through pages in our large, dusty archive books. 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? And then we sort of told him Weve got some good news and bad news. You know, you think youre going to get out of this, youre going to go to class the next day or go to work or whatever you do. Investigators told me that they started to hear rumors, that GIlley had an obsession with lovers lanes, just like the one where David and Sheryl were found. Recording of Pearo: Its always a let down. We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. The Norman Police Department said it didnt hold any officials records back that far that we could use to verify specific details. What happens next leaves him and his family reeling while the Norman Police Department begins investigation. Well, we shared the same bedroom. Henslee said he had fired Gilley a few days after the murders because of the tip that Gilley liked to harass couples on lovers lanes, but also said he had never seen any physical evidence to this day that ties Gilley to the crime., Recording of Ken: One of the comments Henslee made was that he didnt have enough power to influence a murder investigation. . When Gilley started work for the Norman police, he was described by other officers as just having shown up one day. Allegations 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. Due to the current status of the case, information is limited at this time, Jensen said. Henslee said he thought Gilley was the target of a hate plot and a smear campaign. The phrase good ol boys was repeated to me several times. Lets go! Well, they did find her. He was only on the force for three years, mostly focused on this one case. And then he comes back. And even though these statements were coming in after the murders of Sheryl and David, police were including pictures of Gilley. The boy had been dropped off at a party in late May or early June 1968, and later in the evening he got into a fight until Gilley pulled him off. An officer who cut into the plastic detected an odor that they could identify with a decomposing human corpse.. Most of the trial information was kept from the public, but news articles indicated that Henslee and other officers testified, as did Jacobson and the other investigators. Recording of Ken: Im thrilled that somebody is still interested enough in it to try to put something together, thats why I didnt hesitate to meet with yall. Witnesses were dying, people were moving or losing track of them. 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. But amid the chaos, David Sloan and Sheryl Benham were preparing for a date. As the night hours of May 9 wear on, Sheryls dadbecomes worried. 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. 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.. Investigators located in the basement a 3 feet by 4 feet container heavily wrapped in high density plastic, packing tape, and rope stored under the stairs of the basement. Recording of Ken: The reason a .22 was used is because you cant do any type of ballistics on them like you can with larger guns. Recording of Brake: When he got on the elevator there, there was a Mexican boy about 18 years old on there with us, as well as another deputy. So he passed the polygraph. 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. 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 Gilley took the test four days after the bodies were found. He agreed to give Gilley a polygraph test, unbeknownst to case investigators. 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. 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 [] K: We heard this again from Brake, who had a copy of the official police reports Ken filed the day they found the bodies. Video source: Dylan Strilko/WEATHER TRAKER /TMX. Christopher Sanders. K: Sheryls dad, Ben Benham, testified, answering questions on what it was like to file a missing persons report for his daughter. The judge for the jury was the former Cleveland County DA who had previously refused to go after Gilley, Jacobson said. 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.. K: Sheryls mom died in 1995 and her dad in 2001. Munoz told investigators he last saw Sanchez in May of 2020 when Sanchez was trying to get into the house uninvited, according to the search warrant affidavit. When it was decided the case would once again be brought to a grand jury in February 1991, the trajectory looked similar to when the murders were first investigated in the 1970s: A team of investigators followed Gilley, arrested him for a related but not directly connected charge and then a grand jury determines whether he could stand trial. Jacobson also testified. Everyone was referring to the idea that during the time of the murders, the men stuck together no matter what. They patted each other on the back, good to see you, and all that stuff. She found the newspaper with the requested photo, but also found what led to the months long Daily investigation into that pair of murders. 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.. The calls got further apart, but somebody would always call and would say what do you think about this thing, did you look at this, and all that. Grady 2 Views. A monthslong extradition fight began, ending in May 1991 with Gilley being brought to the Cleveland County jail. 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. Im Kayla Branch. 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. Two counts of first-degree murder. It was the first night of Girl Scout camp when 3 young girls were killed and sexually molested. Recording of Kayla: Why do you think that is? 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. Crime at 6400 BLOCK OF 36TH AVENUE NW on 02/19/2023 1:20 PM. Recording of Linda: Well, she loved her job I love, theres this one picture of Sherri, she looked so cute she had the little red skirt and the white top, you know, and she was just so cute in it.. 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. Having a conversation with Gilley in reference to his activities when he was a deputy sheriff in Amarillo, he told me of several investigations he had made and also relayed to me that during patrolling for our police department, he asked where any parkers went. They checked his police car, finding that on an average night, he would drive well over 100 miles on patrol. When the couples started coming to police, investigators put together a line up of photos of officers. He was tall with thick brown hair and a lean build. What happens is you have blood seepage into the lung., Recording of Ken: I think he came out of that car and Frank had to shoot him a couple times, I dont think he intended to shoot anybody, he just wanted, you know, to do his thing. And now youve seen me.. Hes got a big smile, seems confident. Maybe Sheryl had been drugged. Of course Gilley passed the polygraph and we didnt get to talk to him or anything.. In episode 2, listen to the the story of Sheryls sister, Linda, on the day her family searched for Sheryl. 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 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. The Benhams became close with investigators, especially Ken Jacobson, the lead investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Because those guys werent even policemen when this thing happened. Sherry and I, yes. 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. So I go, Dad did you find Sherry? 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. Rarely did he make any type of gestures that would draw any interest.He was quiet and he didnt do anything to call attention to himself.. He then cut the body up into a hundred pieces and cooked and ate from them for days. Hes reading a statement from a boy in Amarillo who witnessed a crucial altercation involving Frank Gilley.
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