Henslee is quoted saying this in multiple articles and testimonies. But he signed off on the search warrant.. 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: This is Dave Pearo, a Norman police officer from 1981 to 2004. In July, a hearing was held to determine whether the case had enough evidence to go to trial. Now this detail, the assault charge, is crucial because case investigators used it to show that Gilley should never have been hired by the Norman Police Department in the first place. Henslee never did get his promotion to be the director of the OSBI. 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. And theyre almost all headshots at that point. He probably has a .22 pistol. Who knows.. 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. K: This is one of the only times we ever came across the Sloan family coming to Norman to be involved with the case. Hes got a big smile, seems confident. WebIf you reside in Norman, then there is a 1 in 321 chance that you will experience a violent crime. WebNORMAN 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 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. Recording of Brake:Sheriff Johnston said he believed Gilley was very much capable of committing the type of crime that is involved in this case, he said in his opinion, GIlley was a very sadistic personality.. Recording of Brake: There was no official record at any check in Texas to indicate that Gilley had ever made contact with Sloan, officially. Recording of Brake: Henslee, basically, hired Gilley on friendship because Henslee had been in law enforcement in Texas where Gilley was.. But the DA at that time was adamant that the case was going to go to trial with what we had because, you know, the case wasnt improving. Recording of Pearo: So what we had done in retrospect was probably a mistake. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. NOTES: STEPHENS CO. More Info. Described as ornery but well-liked and friendly, he was on a tennis scholarship for his first two years. 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. 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.. . By early morning Sunday, Sheryls dad had driven to Norman to speak with police and report her missing. Detectives are actively completing a thorough and detailed investigation. K: Thats Chip Minty, a reporter at The Oklahoman who covered the trial, describing Gilleys demeanor on Oct. 21, 1991, as jurors were picked. Bill Maher funeral home. So he opens the trunk and he stands there with the rifle and just starts emptying the rifle into them. Episode 1 Mr. Gilley asked him another question and the boy answered it. WebIn 2019, Oklahoma law enforcement reported 249 murders. These types of crimes may include homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and physical Everyone was referring to the idea that during the time of the murders, the men stuck together no matter what. Re-reading articles and court documents, its clear he challenged every step of the trial. It chronicles what Gilley called a scandal, telling detectives and reporters there was a plot against him. Lets go! Well, they did find her. 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. WebBest Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more. Web9801 DEERFIELD DR, NORMAN, OK 73026 Get a FREE Property Report for this home. 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. And then relayed to me that that rifle actually belonged to his wife so he wasnt lying. 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.. The more I learned about that night, the more I realized it started off just like the fraternity parties today. One: Why a man with an aggravated assault charge in Texas had been hired as a Norman cop? K: Mike Brake, the reporter who covered the case in its earlier days, said the same thing. I did not see the flashlight myself, but as he was shoving me out the door, my head hit the door. The car was riddled with bullet holes. Many, if not most should be considered armed and dangerous. And your first thought is Good! SpotCrime crime details. He was part of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. 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 Get full property details, plus crime rates, environmental hazards, natural disaster risks and more at HomeDisclosure.com 202371154. I hope he died alone and a very painful death. It sits in a quiet neighborhood. Maybe Sheryl had been drugged. K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Munoz said he had to call police to get Sanchez to leave. Investigators called former colleagues and bosses of Gilley, looking for character statements. 112 GREAT OAKS DR, NORMAN, OK 73071 Property Report 145441690 Recording of Brake: He told me that if anyone asked me about a .22 rifle, which he might own, to tell them no. De Soto PD called him, and said Is this Mr. Gilley? and he said yeah. Jacobson pointed to the unusual handling of the case and what he considered obstruction that interfered with the investigation. Perrine put in dozens of requests, ranging from declaring a mistrial to requesting that words like grotesque not be allowed in the courtroom. 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. As a matter of fact, he, even all those years later, he kept track of where Gilley was on the sly, would leave him a little note on his car every once in a while, Gilley wouldnt know where it came from, but were still looking at you, that kind of stuff, a little psychological warfare. Henslee said he thought Gilley was the target of a hate plot and a smear campaign. 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. Recording of Brake: 200 people. And they did a good job, far as cleaning it up and everything.. So he passed the polygraph. WebOn Feb. 13, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation opened a suspicious death investigation after remains were found at the lake in Norman. Brake lives in Oklahoma City, working part time as a public information officer for the OKC county commissioners office. 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. He had lived in small towns in northern Texas his whole life and spent over a decade in the Amarillo area as a sheriffs deputy for Potter County. They arrested a man who was picked up on the side of the road in a different town because someone reported him as having blood on his clothes. Another unsolved case is that of 2-year-old Riah Thomas. The twister tossed vehicles around including one on top of another. The They walked up and down the field, finding a few things more bullets, mostly. The case is almost 50 years old and remains unsolved. I think thats what happened and the autopsy points to that as well. 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. He was married multiple times and had a few children. She talked about Sheryl like this every time we had a phone call. But by that point, he was gone. Recording of Ken: One of the hardest things about something like this is what you know happened but you cant prove it. And its also important to remember the climate of the time, that even though the majority of Normans community trusted law enforcement officials, the younger generation was having increasingly negative run-ins with officers, whether through protesting or individual incidents. Recording of Ken: I dont know. Tornado hits Norman damaging the electric system and causing power cuts. Well pick back up the day the bodies were found. Six: Why Gilley was allowed to resign days after the murders? The Benhams became close with investigators, especially Ken Jacobson, the lead investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Well we thought that was unusual because Frank lived in Amarillo.. 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. Whoever did that knew about crime scenes and knew about firearms they knew what they were doing. When he arrived, he was arrested. Two days later, testimony began. 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. Sheryl graduated from Putnam City High School in 1969 and was living in Oklahoma City with her parents, her older sister Linda and Lindas oldest son. Recording of Pearo: And he told us where hed gotten it. K: The defense strategy was one of continual questioning. This is an 18.6% increase from the previous year. . We still do polygraph examinations. 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. So I wanted to file impersonating an officer and he would tell these kids he was the sheriff and the DA refused to file. On Saturday, May 9, 1970, Dave was 21. 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