WebAccording to the most recent data from the FBI, the total crime rate in Norman is 2,867.6 per 100,000 people. And they said Well Mr. Gilley, Im standing here in your living room and it looks like somebody broke into your house.. He was part of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Davids keys, wallet and shoes were all missing, too. And even though these statements were coming in after the murders of Sheryl and David, police were including pictures of Gilley. They spoke to an ex-girlfriend of Davids, who said they had sometimes went to the Ten-Mile Flats area after dates. As he was leaving the barn about 7 a.m., he saw two men standing next to two parked cars. 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 WebFOX23 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. 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. The case becomes exceedingly complicated and twisted from here on out, so be prepared. As the night hours of May 9 wear on, Sheryls dadbecomes worried. Then Mr. Gilley said are you accusing me of stealing your $10? The place Dave and Sheryl went was popular, though they probably werent expecting to find any company. 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 States Violent Crime: 24: 14.7: 22.7 Property Crime: 60: 40.9: 35.4: The Crime Indices range from 1 (low crime) to 100 (high crime). And that pool cue was over on the passengers side, on the floor and it was completely wiped clean, didnt have anybodys fingerprints on it., Recording of Brake: So I think Sloan grabbed that pool cue handle and said Ill kick your ass and Gilley shot him with the handgun. I had an awful time letting go of it. The Norman Police Department said it didnt hold any officials records back that far that we could use to verify specific details. Recording of Linda: When something like this happens, you feel like, What could I do? And the neighbor across the street had gone to OU So I called her and explained that you know Sherry went on this date last night, and she isnt home yet. Thats when we realized this case was more than a pair of untimely deaths. Recording of Brake: 200 people. Crime news across America. When Gilley started work for the Norman police, he was described by other officers as just having shown up one day. After picking Sheryl up at her Oklahoma City home, the pair drove down to Norman to attend a party at Daves fraternity. 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. The National Guard was called in to contain the crowd, and shots were fired when students wouldnt disperse. Be 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.. He said his assault charges and even the call from the Amarillo TV station were retaliation for a contentious sheriff election in Amarillo in 1968, among other things, and that he was being used as a, quote, political football.. Brake saved a newspaper article about Sheryls funeral the next day. Recording of Kayla: Can you speak about the relationship between Henslee and Gilley? DALLAS -- A 56-year-old former Oklahoma policeman has been arrested and charged with killing two University of Oklahoma students on a rural lovers lane more than 20 years ago. Hes reading a statement from a boy in Amarillo who witnessed a crucial altercation involving Frank Gilley. Recording of Brake: Ava Yvonne Boden, this was her statement on Nov. 14, 1970. But Jacobson, never did let go of the case. And then he said something about Well you couldnt even convict him again or something like that. And now I can talk about it without breaking down and crying. Recording of Pearo: So what we had done in retrospect was probably a mistake. 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. I think he started his lovers lane harassment and I think David recognized him. Sherry and I, yes. Some guy said that to me and I kinda went off on him a little bit.. Recording of Pearo: We went down and we talked to a judge in Dallas. K: This is one of the only times we ever came across the Sloan family coming to Norman to be involved with the case. 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. It was just gone, all the evidence was just gone.. Officers with assault charges arent usually allowed to continue policing. 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. 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. Why?, Recording of Brake: I think Gilley was just out there trying to get a glimpse of some boobies and harass some kids like hed done many times before and runs into somebody that knew who he was.. 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. I think he was but was not dying or dead, maybe not even dying. A suspect is in custody, the sheriff's office in Tate County, Mississippi, Hundreds of court documents back that up. It was the first night of Girl Scout camp when 3 young girls were killed and sexually molested. What truly happened to Dave and Sheryl is still and may always be speculation, but some people believe they have a pretty good guess. Compare Norman crime data to One of them was Butch Green, who had ridden with Frank, who gave the statement that Frank did in fact carry a .22 rifle on duty in the car. They patted each other on the back, good to see you, and all that stuff. She looks like she died almost immediately. A reporter there had a tip about someone on Normans police force. Well we thought that was unusual because Frank lived in Amarillo.. Maybe Sheryl had been drugged. He was arrested early May 6, 1977, after being found by a neighbor asleep outside the bloody apartment. We announced that we were going to go for the death penalty on those cases because of the circumstances. Pearo retired in 2004 and moved to Florida where he spends time scuba diving. 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. They just couldnt get past the death penalty portion., Recording of Brake: I think there were people on that jury who said I believe he did it but I can not send him to the electric chair When NPD first contacted me back then and said they were going to try and revitalize the case and they started running through all the material again, I remember sitting down there in the homicide office down in Norman with the file sitting on the desk between us saying Its great what you guys are doing but I dont think you can nail him. 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.. He hoped to become director of the OSBI, Jacobson said, and a mark like this on someones record could derail a rising career. 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. They began surveillance on Gilley, finding out where he lived now, following him to work. She was outgoing and fun and their family was close. K: This was the same polygraph Henslee had Gilley take shortly after the murders, the test Henslee said proved Gilleys innocence. 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. WebThis Cleveland County Oklahoma Most Wanted List posts the top 50-100 fugitive criminals on the run. He was going to drive to Amarillo, Texas, and kill him. In the coming months, detectives tailed Gilley as he went to work at his various odd jobs. 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. 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. And then all of a sudden one day, he said he found it. 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. What more do you want me to say?, Recording of Linda: What all he did to how many people after Sherry and Dave? Davids mom raised him and her other children on her own, according to Linda. He maintained that his wife at the time of the murders was with him before he started his night shift, though she denied it. K: But investigators did find .22 caliber weapons in the house, however they were technically owned by Gilleys father. We still do polygraph examinations. The judge for the jury was the former Cleveland County DA who had previously refused to go after Gilley, Jacobson said. 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. 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. Pearo said investigators were discouraged by how the case was previously handled, but when they met up with original case detectives like Ken Jacobson, it was a new opportunity for collaboration. Yeah we should do that. Munoz said he had to call police to get Sanchez to leave. But agents like Ken Jacobson didnt believe that and kept investigating. Did Henslee know about the assault charge? What do you think was the change there?, Recording of Linda: I dont know how to explain that. Recording of Linda: Ken Jacobson, I remember that name a lot. Henslee backed him, saying Gilley wasnt the kind of man to commit any serious crimes, definitely not murder. K: Along with the drive NPD felt to clear its name, the clock was ticking. WebAllegations 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. When I first heard that, there was a little bit of shock and, as I read further, a little bit of intrigue. Davids fraternity went out to search the field as well, but they didnt find anything helpful. Shes a grandmother too, visiting her grandchildren as they graduate from college and get drivers licenses, close to the same age Sheryl was when she died. It was us that broke into your house and youre under arrest. So he started looking around and he looked at me and he said, Where are you from? and I said Norman, Oklahoma. And he said I thought so.. . Way past that 1991 trial. 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. K: For Ken Jacobson, that was his introduction to the murders of Sheryl Benham and David Sloan. NORMAN, Okla. An Oklahoma man shot and killed his estranged wife and her divorce lawyer, then took his own life, police reported Wednesday. 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. He said yes Do you know if Gilley owned or had in his possession any .22 caliber weapons? I did not see the flashlight myself, but as he was shoving me out the door, my head hit the door. 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. 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. K: Next time on Uncovered: The Lovers Lane Murders. When I googled the names of those involved, dozens of articles popped up, spanning decades. Recording of Pearo: And he told us where hed gotten it. 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. Gilley was brought in to the Amarillo police station and had his mug shots taken. Theres a large backyard shaded by multiple trees. Click on the image below to view the Lexis Nexis Community Crime map. But amid the chaos, David Sloan and Sheryl Benham were preparing for a date. 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. They were younger detectives and they knew that was kind of like a festering sore. Sheryl met David Sloan at Steak and Ale, a restaurant in Oklahoma City where they both worked. 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. 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. How did you kill them? 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.. It would be the publics first look at new details and theories regarding the case. I got to know her parents very well. Any kind of doubt that he could create was important to him. Recording of Ken: Its my opinion that there were a lot of folks working against us. Sanchez was charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction. 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. 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.. WebExplore recent crime in Norman, OK. SpotCrime crime map shows crime incident data down to neighborhood crime activity including, reports, trends, and alerts. 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. 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. Two counts of first-degree murder. After President Richard Nixon announced plans to invade Cambodia, riots, protests and demonstrations broke out all over the country. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: Click on the links below to see charts for each crime category. 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. 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. He asked me if Id ever had sexual intercourse. But this night ended differently. I mean this guy was a cop and he did this stuff. Why that change?, Recording of Foster: Its just due to the public pressures on things and us relooking at things and listening to the public go Oh yeah yeah, that does make sense, that would be a lot better. Police traveled to the Recording of Linda: I dont know how to explain that. Who knows.. 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. That was good enough for me to go after him with everything I had.. The jury went on for a few days, but thats really the end of it. 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. Mr. Gilley asked him another question and the boy answered it. August Murders accounted for 1.5% of all violent crimes and 0.2% of reported index crimes. 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. Grady. 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.. I hope he died alone and a very painful death. And then we were afraid that if we didnt let him know, we wouldnt know when he was coming home. He has an old binder with newspaper clippings, police reports and photos he took of the crime scene when it was discovered. 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. In the following months, officers deliberated how best to pin Gilley down for the murders. Hes got a big smile, seems confident. 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. 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.. Recording of Pearo: In February of 1990, just out of the blue, the old landlord for where Frank Gilley, where he used to live.. Police reported that in 2018 Sandoval described Sanchez as her brother and that he and his wife were abusing her. Keep in mind that they had been at a fraternity party at the SAE house. The Recording of Linda: I would just love to look him straight in the face and say What happened? The OSBIs Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and State Incident-Based Reporting System (SIBRS) are part of a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort 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. Im Kayla Branch. 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