We still do a complete background on these people talking to everybody looking at everything. Then here we can and were visiting it again, making the news again. Recording of Foster: Back then a lot more of that stuff what went on. K: Thats Chip Minty, a reporter at The Oklahoman who covered the trial, describing Gilleys demeanor on Oct. 21, 1991, as jurors were picked. I think dad was with him for a long time with what was going on He was so honest and wanted justice done. I dont think Henslee was convinced that Gilley had done it at that point. So he opens the trunk and he stands there with the rifle and just starts emptying the rifle into them. Sanchez and his wife lived at the Ann Branden Boulevard apartment until October 2018, according to investigators. SpotCrime crime details. Gilley was brought in to the Amarillo police station and had his mug shots taken. But agents like Ken Jacobson didnt believe that and kept investigating. NOTES: GRADY CO Recording of Kayla: Why do you think that is? K: Next time, on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. The Benhams became close with investigators, especially Ken Jacobson, the lead investigator from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. 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.. 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. 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.. 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. Two decades had gone by and the investigators werent going to gather much more than they already had, Ken Jacobson, the 1970s OSBI investigator, said. He was married multiple times and had a few children. They patted each other on the back, good to see you, and all that stuff. Im Kayla Branch. 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. Investigators believed they reached a tipping point in March of 1971 when they persuaded the district attorney to bring Gilley in on charges of impersonating an officer in connection with the statements given to police by the various teen couples. Its every single step we take in our evidence transfer or testing or anything and is logged in a computer system. On May 14, investigators executed a search warrant at Sanchezs home at 1224 Westlawn Dr. and recovered documents showing he and his wife were receiving Social Security benefits intended for Sandoval. The police department brought in dozens of suspects, potential witnesses, family members and friends to interview. Said hes shoot rabbits with it and stuff. Henslee is quoted saying this in multiple articles and testimonies. Two counts of first-degree murder. You know and Frank and David were both described as hotheads and so you put two hotheads together I think Frank his only choice was to shoot him to protect himself and then Sherry probably just did whatever he wanted her to do., Recording of Brake: heek. K: Henslee talked about why Gilley left the Norman police force, saying he asked Gilley to go because the assault charges would make NPD look bad. I think he just thought it was embarrassing to have the guy being investigated.. Davids keys, wallet and shoes were all missing, too. You know they were sort of at least at peace, at least a little bit. 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. Did Henslee know about the assault charge? 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. K: Welcome back to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. 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. He was working as a recent recruit to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in 1970 and was assigned to the case full time. 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. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Keep in mind that they had been at a fraternity party at the SAE house. K: The new team of investigators led by Pearo took the gun and ran tests, but it came back without a match. Recording of Ken: It turns out, there werent that many people working toward the same goal., Recording of Brake: Frank Gilley did it. Recording of Kayla: What was it like for you at the time that you retired was the case still open or had it kind of effectively gone cold?. Way past that 1991 trial. 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. What happens next leaves him and his family reeling while the Norman Police Department begins investigation. Our crime rates are based on FBI data. K: This was the same polygraph Henslee had Gilley take shortly after the murders, the test Henslee said proved Gilleys innocence. 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 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. On Saturday, May 9, 1970, Dave was 21. K: Lubbock and Amarillo are nearly two hours away from each other. Case Number: 2023-00010701. A reporter there had a tip about someone on Normans police force. K: 1970. He told them that Gilley was their main suspect, but they were struggling to convince other law enforcement officials, like the DAs office or the OSBI, that he could be charged with the murders of Sheryl and David. Recording of Linda: I dont know how to explain that. 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. 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. 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 Brake: 200 people. There is a picture of him in a 1969 OU yearbook with his racket. So we got Ken involved and he became really instrumental in being able to help us out with kind of what happened back in the beginning, how the case got convoluted into this big cover up thing by the then chief of police.. Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in Norman is 1 in 316 and property crime is 1 in 32. Frank wanted you to know that he was on top of everything and that he was better than these other guys.. K: The defense strategy was one of continual questioning. An old pool cue, broken in half, was in the front seat. They believe the incident started before Gilleys NPD shift started around midnight Saturday. 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. Gilleys attorney, Robert Perrine, said most of the evidence was not conclusive. The twister tossed vehicles around including one on top of another. He spoke of how Gilley admitted to him he did know David before the murders, though Gilley previously testified he had never met David. It was a much smaller department then, often only a few police officers would be out patrolling the city at a time. Linda, Sheryls older sister by two years, stayed at their family home in Oklahoma City with her mom. She told them he was home with her, but later recanted her statement, saying she didnt know exactly where he was. They spoke to an ex-girlfriend of Davids, who said they had sometimes went to the Ten-Mile Flats area after dates. When the husband went to court, it was speculated that Gilley was involved, that maybe he had tipped off the husband to the affair. And after almost 50 years, she said the pain is more manageable. They were spurred on by the initial evidence; the assault charge, Henslee hiring Gilley out of line with protocols and Gilley disappearing. K: Ten days before Green told investigators what he knew about Gilley, they learned that multiple young couples had recently been harassed by an unknown man on lovers lanes. The violent crime rate in Norman is 289.4 per 100,000 people. There is no other perpetrator that makes any sense at all, none., Recording of Ken: When you get in a situation like that, you never really think youre going to die. He spoke of other things he usually did on weekends, like playing card games with friends. K: The first full day of the July hearing had testimony from seven witnesses, including Gilleys parents, a former wife and the Norman police chief from the 1970s, Bill Henslee. Not only does the department interact with the Norman community on a more regular basis, but the hiring protocols for officers have completely changed. And then, on the last full day of trial, on Friday, Nov. 8, Perrine put Gilley on the stand. Sheryls family started thinking of possibilities of what could have happened. I think while he was shoving her into the trunk he had to slug her a couple times. Whoever did that knew about crime scenes and knew about firearms they knew what they were doing. Except one, a few days later. K: After finding the car and the bodies, officers from all of the agencies came together to sweep the area. 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. For Linda, talking openly about her sister is something thats relatively new. Investigators said Sandoval at one time was placed in Griffin Memorial Hospital for mental health treatment, and on Feb. 17, 2018 she filed a report with Norman police stating Sanchez and his wife were abusing her. K: Along with the drive NPD felt to clear its name, the clock was ticking. Norman violent crime is 14.7. 112 GREAT OAKS DR, NORMAN, OK 73071 Property Report 145441690 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. The initial investigation putters out after obstruction from local law enforcement agencies. That happens all the time at OU. K: Brake had the actual statements that Jacobson is referring to, from when Butch was questioned by investigators on Nov. 24, 1970. The stories they told were shrouded in conspiracy theories and different ways the case was mishandled by the Norman Police Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. 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. Episode 4 crosses state lines into Dallas, Texas, where the investigation is reopened in the 1990s. The state Medical Examiners Office confirmed the body as that of Sandoval. He said the politics were too much, that true policing was impossible because of it. 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.. They felt the options were running slim, until February 1991. Shortly afterward, he heard gunshots. Its been 48 years and the case has been closed and reopened, seen two grand juries and one trial. Be 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. 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. K: Youre listening to Uncovered: the Lovers Lane Murders. WebNORMAN, Okla. Police have identified the two people killed in a double-homicide in Norman. 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. They were younger detectives and they knew that was kind of like a festering sore. 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. 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: At this point, as we were learning all of this and trying to connect the dots, we started to have some questions. Davids mom raised him and her other children on her own, according to Linda. K: Sheryls dad, Ben Benham, testified, answering questions on what it was like to file a missing persons report for his daughter. Around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, police were called to reports of a shooting in the But it was one that, it was kind of a taboo subject., Recording of Kayla: Why? Recording of Ken: There was just like half a dozen guys on the police department that would even talk to us. Episode 1 explores how The Daily came across the story of the two murdered teenagers, David Sloan and Sheryl Benham. 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 [] And I think he did use time as an ally to just cast some doubt on the allegations that were made and the accuracy of the allegations and the accuracy of the witness recollection. The Another unsolved case is that of 2-year-old Riah Thomas. Recording of Ken: But we jumped in the car in Oklahoma City and drove out to Lubbock, drove all night. She did have a couple of chest wounds, but there was not a lot of bleeding internally in that. They checked his police car, finding that on an average night, he would drive well over 100 miles on patrol. K: Undeterred by the two passed polygraphs, investigators kept digging. But when you cant because of the way things are done, thats hard.. A lot of blood and congestion in the right lung from a wound in the lung. ADVERTISEMENT He was detained briefly and released. Brake saved a newspaper article about Sheryls funeral the next day. Hes reading a statement from a boy in Amarillo who witnessed a crucial altercation involving Frank Gilley. This is an 18.6% increase from the previous year. I dont fault them for trying. These types of crimes may include homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and physical K: Welcome back to Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. Hundreds of thousands of college students were protesting the Vietnam War. Property Crime Rates In Norman 3,261 Property Crimes 2,578.3 Property Crimes / 100k People 31.67% Above National Average Well start back up with thoughts from Linda Adams, Sheryls older sister. They walked up and down the field, finding a few things more bullets, mostly. But I was. 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. Police traveled to the And then all of a sudden one day, he said he found it. I got to know her parents very well. 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. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. Linda and Sheryls parents, Ben and Sue Benham, moved around for Bens different jobs until settling their family in Oklahoma City for good. It was pretty tough. Were just, you just dont let it go. When police got there, the crime scene had been swept clean. And they did a good job, far as cleaning it up and everything.. Im writing this in hopes that some of the people receiving this letter can provide answers, he typed. 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.. 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.. And then he said something about Well you couldnt even convict him again or something like that. WebAccording to the most recent data from the FBI, the total crime rate in Norman is 2,867.6 per 100,000 people. 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. I think he started his lovers lane harassment and I think David recognized him. Based on a tip, investigators discovered Sandovols decomposing body in a residential basement at 715 W Lindsey St. Detectives interviewed Miguel Munoz at the home, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. Recording of Linda: Ken Jacobson, I remember that name a lot. Gilley said he had never met Sloan. 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. K: The caliber of the weapon that killed Dave and Sheryl. 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. Before Green died, Gilley had come back to investigators claiming that Green had something to do with the murders of Sheryl and David. 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.. K: This is Dave Pearo, a Norman police officer from 1981 to 2004. K: Many of the individuals named in our investigation died within 10 or 15 years of the case going to trial. Recording of Brake: Ava Yvonne Boden, this was her statement on Nov. 14, 1970. Decades of investigations followed, creating ripples in the Norman community still felt today. She was 19. There would have been music, talking, some drinking, maybe dancing. He told me that he still keeps an eye out for talk of the murders, mentioning in particular a message board where he saw people talking about the case. 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. Map Browse By State K: When Jacobson and the team of investigators finally have enough evidence to put real pressure on Gilley, they run into opposition from Henslee and other Oklahoma law enforcement. 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. What we think happened is Sloan and Benham were up on the lovers lane and Gilley approached them, probably came up to David Sloan, his side of the car, and said Im the sheriff of Cleveland County, probably made David get out and talk to him. JOSEPH WAYNE McCOOL 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. K: This was one of the houses Gilley lived in full-time while he was on the Norman police force and on and off for a few months after the murders. He was tall with thick brown hair and a lean build. He agreed to give Gilley a polygraph test, unbeknownst to case investigators. In addition to debris, there are cars with But Frank, from the time David got out and it was apparent that he did recognize him, theyre both from Amarillo, I mean, what are the chances of that happening?. What more do you want me to say?, Recording of Linda: What all he did to how many people after Sherry and Dave? How did you kill them? Dave Pearo and some of those guys, they really wanted to go after it.. Date: 2/28 #1 DRIVING W/ LICENSE CANC/SUSP/REVOKED. K: Solorzano said protocols for handling evidence have become much more strict in the last 50 years, every step being documented in a complex computer program. 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. 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. But there were also bullet casings, almost 30 of them, scattered in the dirt and brush. The OSBIs Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and State Incident-Based Reporting System (SIBRS) are part of a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort Plus the chief added some automatic disqualifiers to that on drug usage, domestic issues that you may have that will automatically disqualify you from our process. Two: Why Henslee hadnt focused the investigation closer on Gilley from the beginning? K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. On the last day of the pretrial, one of the most interesting pieces of evidence emerged, though it was never corroborated, when a new witness was called to the stand. WebIf you reside in Norman, then there is a 1 in 321 chance that you will experience a violent crime. Said if I went out in the woods and took off all my clothes, he wouldnt take me to jail.. Some guy said that to me and I kinda went off on him a little bit.. NORMAN, Okla. (KOKH) Police identified the suspect in a homicide and officer-involved shooting in Norman that happened earlier this month. 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. I said my dad has been in Norman all day. 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 The OU Daily, in a new podcast series called Uncovered, investigated a pair of murders that took place May 9, 1970 in Norman. Recording of Pearo: This case was in there. He probably has a .22 pistol. Investigators said Bill Henslee, the Norman police chief at the time, wanted to make sure this case didnt reflect poorly on him or the department. In the following months, officers deliberated how best to pin Gilley down for the murders. Recording of Pearo: There were a bunch of them that sat there and kind of kicked it around and decided that they werent going to go for an arrest warrant but wanted to go for a grand jury, which to me was very disappointing because Im a go get them arrest them kind of guy.. 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. A Norman man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Wellston woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird, the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation reported Wednesday. The Hippie Era was still blazing, but now, the kids coming of age had become increasingly politically active. He gets the rifle, which is a high capacity rifle, a .22 rifle might have a magazine of 22 rounds or more. 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. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. Henslee backed him, saying Gilley wasnt the kind of man to commit any serious crimes, definitely not murder. 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. NORMAN Investigators arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose remains were found at Lake Thunderbird last Monday. 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. 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. 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. K: From interviews, news articles and court documents, we were able to piece together an outline of that night. In the safe we found some more weapons, one of them was a sawed-off shotgun, which is illegal. On Nov. 21, 1990, officers were able to search Gilleys residence. He maintained that his wife at the time of the murders was with him before he started his night shift, though she denied it. Grady. Now, Gilley was living in Amarillo, presumably with his parents, Jacobson told us. They took the weapons and tried to match them with some of the shell casings from the crime scene, but the tests came back without a ballistics match, Jacobson said. August Murders accounted for 1.5% of all violent crimes and 0.2% of reported index crimes. One: Why a man with an aggravated assault charge in Texas had been hired as a Norman cop? K: The Norman Police Department also changed its evidence protocols, said Sarah Jensen, the public information officer for NPD. WebUPDATE: Two people killed during shooting in Norman residential area, police say possible murder-suicide MAPS 4 planning improvements for OKC parks Local News / Feb 21, 2023 TWO FOUND DEAD IN TRUNK. Those five words, in large bold font, headlined a story on the bottom right corner of the May 12 front page. WebOklahoma Bookings. After picking Sheryl up at her Oklahoma City home, the pair drove down to Norman to attend a party at Daves fraternity. He then jumped up and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, shoved him against the wall and banged the boys head against the wall several times.. 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. Crime news across America. It was really hard for them when we told them we were reopening the case again because it had been so long and sort of accepted the fact as much as they could. The charges: One count of perjury. K: Almost two days later, their belongings were found dropped in and around Daves car, a 1966 Pontiac GTO. K: Thats David Pearo, the lead case investigator for the Norman Police Department in the 1990s. 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. Cold Cases, Missing and Unsolved Crimes. Everytime I just about get it out of my head, somebody calls and says weve got a guy that thinks hes got the gun. It chronicles what Gilley called a scandal, telling detectives and reporters there was a plot against him. K: Gilley was living close to Dallas in De Soto, Texas, in the early 90s. 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. K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. I would just bawl. Most of the case takes place in central Oklahoma and Northern Texas, but our story begins five days earlier in Kent, Ohio, on Monday, May 4, 1970. 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.