06x06 - Where's Mom?

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: when a suspicious message...

...has a family concerned...

But then when I tried to call back, she did not answer.

All I could think of is, "I got to find my mom."

Narrator: ...a gruesome crime...

This as*ault was obviously very violent.

Whoever did this did it to k*ll.

Narrator: ...and a man on the run...

We were tracking a k*ller.

Narrator: ...has investigators chasing surveillance footage

And it appeared that he was trying to stay out of view

Of some of these cameras.

Narrator: ...to hunt down the k*ller.

Here.

♪♪

♪♪

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Shirley: joe?

Oh, there you are.

Are you taking your boots,

'Cause they're not in the closet

I am. They're in the car already.

Okay. All right.

Narrator: shirley and joe shell

Have been married for 45 years.

Joe: shirley and I were high school sweethearts.

We started going together when we were juniors in high school.

We went to junior college together.

She was a very fine christian, god-loving person.

Must have that. Yeah.

I could not have done a better job of finding a wife.

Narrator: joe and shirley have three grown children

And two grandchildren.

She was so kind and just loving and selfless.

I think if you talk to my brother

And my sister and even my dad,

That's the one word that we would most use to describe her.

Narrator: joe spends a lot of time on the road.

He's a senior executive for an agriculture company

Based almost 300 miles away in amarillo.

Sometimes I'd wait and leave at 5:00 in the morning.

But this particular time, I left the night before.

I'll call you when I get there.

Good.

With my dad traveling so much,

I spent a lot of time helping my mom at the house,

Helping her with granny.

Narrator: shirley's mother pearl is 95 and almost blind.

She needs full-time care.

There we go.

She could definitely make out shapes and images

And light and dark and I think colors.

But it's difficult, I think, for her to make out detail.

There.

[ Sighs ]

♪♪

Narrator: it's now 3:30 a.m. And joe's arrived in amarillo.

He spends the night in a motel,

Ready for an early morning meeting next day.

[ Cellphone vibrates ]

I noticed the phone, and shirley had called.

That was very strange, especially that late.

I don't know that she'd ever called me that late before.

She'd called and left a message on the phone.

I really thought that there was possibly something wrong

With her mother.

But then when I tried to call back...

[ Telephone ringing ]

...she did not answer.

So then I actually called cindy at her home.

[ Cellphone ringing ]

♪♪

[ Cellphone beeps ]

Hello?

Cindy, it's me.

Dad? What time is it?

I just got a strange call from your mom.

Jemes: he had called because he wondered if I would go

And actually just go check and look at the house,

See what was going on.

I'll head right over.

Okay, bye.

I was thinking I just want to kind of complete this

And figure this out and get back home

And go back to bed.

♪♪

It probably took me, I don't know,

Maybe five minutes at most to get over there.

My mind was still trying to kind of process

Kind of what could have happened.

Narrator: it's 4:00 a.m.

Jemes: the house looked very normal.

All the lights were on that normally we're on.

I obviously had a guest key,

So I unlocked the front door and entered.

I immediately thought to go first check

On my grandmother's area.

The bed sheets had been pulled back, you know,

As if someone had gotten out of bed,

But nothing looked disturbed.

I kind of stood there for a little while, again,

Trying to puzzle piece everything together.

Cindy?

And I heard my grandmother.

Grandma?

What are you doing out here?

What happened?

[ Stutters ]

Where's mom?

She said, "he's taken your mother."

Uh, okay. I'm gonna go find mom, okay?

You just stay here. I'll be right back.

All I could think of is, "I got to find my mom."

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I saw what I recognized to be my mom.

Mom?

Almost like she was just taking a nap.

When I actually turned the light on...

Mom?

...i was able to see that my mom

Was kind of curled up on her side, laying on the bed.

Mom! Mom!

Oh, my god!

Mom!

[ Telephone dials, rings ]

♪♪

There's a pain that you feel in your soul

In a moment like that.

It's just like utter emptiness.

It's like a vacuum in your soul.

[ Siren wails ]

[ Police radio chatter ]

Narrator: detective mike chesley of edmond p.d.

Leads the investigation.

Chesley: my main priority is, right off the bat,

To make sure that the scene was locked down,

Everything was contained,

We had whatever witnesses were there.

When I walked into pearl's side of the house, on the table,

I believe the wallet was left open,

And I also noticed a clear plastic candy jar

That was sitting on the table.

And part of the lid, the lip of it was broken off.

Narrator: someone has stolen loose change from the plastic jar

And two credit cards.

But strangely, little else has been taken.

Police want to talk to the one family member

They know was in the house at the time of the m*rder.

Hi, ma'am.

I'm mike chesley with edmond p.d.

I'm gonna ask you a few questions, okay?

Pearl is 95 years old,

And with her not being able to see,

She was very confused with what was going on.

Is there any details you can tell me about what happened?

There was a lot -- a lot of commotion.

She just remembers hearing somebody come into the house.

She heard a calm, deep voice talking to shirley,

Saying something about getting the money.

She didn't hear shirley

Screaming at all or anything like that.

But she did hear the suspect say, "you're going with me."

Narrator: while officers take pearl to safety,

Detectives head to the m*rder scene.

Chesley: as I looked into her bedroom, I could see

That she had numerous wounds about her head or neck area

And there was just a lot of blood.

This as*ault was obviously very violent.

Whoever did this did it to k*ll her.

There were no obvious signs of a struggle.

There were no g*ns laying around, there were no knives.

There wasn't a whole lot to go on.

Narrator: police canvass the area for witnesses.

Oak: we learned from one of the neighbors

That they had heard some noises, looked out,

And saw a vehicle parked out front of this residence,

And they gave a vague description

Of possibly a four-door burgundy-type colored car.

Narrator: detectives track the two credit cards

Stolen from shirley's purse...

...and they put a bolo out on a burgundy vehicle spotted

Close to the crime scene.

♪♪

Police hit the road.

Oak: when we initially arrive on any type of crime scene,

We look for video surveillance footage.

In a neighborhood,

There are many people that have cameras on their house.

They monitor their driveways, things like that.

Narrator: there aren't any cameras in the neighborhood,

So detectives expand their search for footage.

Okay, let's assume our guy gets off

The i-35 here at edmond.

Oak: i-35 runs north and south through edmond jurisdiction,

And their neighborhood, the shell neighborhood,

Was located just to the west of that.

We believe that the k*ller may have got off,

Got gas, ended up in that neighborhood.

Chesley: he makes way across 15th

To the shell residence on wendle.

Narrator: detective chesley believes

That if the k*ller going off the freeway at edmond,

He could have passed by three business establishments.

Circle k, 7-eleven, and the walmart superstore.

Any of the businesses located in that area

Having surveillance footage would be important to us.

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: detectives head out to the i-35 exit,

Located less than a mile from the m*rder scene.

They strike out at the 7-eleven and the circle k.

So detectives cross the street and head to the walmart.

♪♪

Oak: we know walmart have pretty good cameras.

They have numerous cameras both inside and outside the store.

Narrator: police urgently seize copies of walmart surveillance video.

They queue up the first tape...

Play it from here.

...hoping to see the burgundy vehicle spotted

Near the crime scene.

They're about to discover

If shirley's k*ller is caught on camera.

Here.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: in edmond, oklahoma,

Detectives are looking for a burgundy vehicle

On walmart security footage.

It might lead them to shirley shell's m*rder*r.

Play it from here.

Oak: we started watching a little before 2:15

Because we knew shirley shell's time of her call

Was around that 2:30 mark.

Narrator: two people unload a walmart truck.

Otherwise, the parking lot is quiet...

...until...

Here.

...at 2:19,

A dark four-door vehicle enters frame

And drives to the far end of the lot.

Oak: approximately three minutes later,

We saw the vehicle then reappear and drive out

Around the large walmart truck parked out in the parking lot.

And then it comes back and out of frame.

Play it again. Can you go back?

Narrator: the vehicle is burgundy, and the driver's behavior

Makes detectives suspicious.

Normal people, typically when they go to walmart,

They park up -- there were plenty of parking spaces.

For him to leave to the deep end of the parking lot

And then come back,

I mean, was he still shopping?

Did he remember he forgot something?

Narrator: the vehicle matches the description of the car spotted

Opposite the crime scene.

Police want to track down the driver.

Can you zoom in?

But the vehicle is too far away

And the picture is too grainy to see the license plate.

Yeah, okay. Carry on.

Nothing happens for the next eight minutes until...

...at 2:30, the vehicle reappears.

So wait, the driver's out of video surveillance

Between 2:22 and 2:30.

Correct.

Detectives are convinced that in those eight minutes,

The driver could have reached shirley's home,

k*lled her, and returned to the lot.

Back it up.

Can you zoom in?

They still can't make out the license plate,

So they continue watching.

♪♪

Then...

There.

...six minutes later,

The same dark-colored vehicle comes in again.

He's gonna park.

Back it up.

It's their clearest view so far.

Detectives hope they're about to get their first glimpse

Of a suspect.

Our anticipation is now somebody is going to get out.

Go in tight.

What's he doing?

Oak: they're doing stuff with the seat,

Moving it forward backwards,

And messing with something in the passenger side.

Come on, come on.

Narrator: but the driver doesn't get out.

They keep watching,

Scanning the screen for the smallest movement.

Six, seven minutes later, about 2:43,

We see a walmart worker

Gathering carts come toward that car.

Narrator: without warning, the vehicle suddenly backs up

And drives away.

Is that because he doesn't want to be spotted?

Is it because he doesn't want somebody grabbing his tag?

Narrator: desperate to i.d. The vehicle,

Detectives load footage from a second camera

That covers the far end of the walmart parking lot.

Okay, play it back from here.

They queue up the footage to just before 2:19

When they saw it arrive on the first camera.

That's him.

Detectives watch the vehicle

Cross the lot and disappear from view.



Play it again. Can you go back?

Oak: we got a little better look at the actual car,

But we were still unable to get any type of license plate.

Narrator: they keep watching, hoping they'll get one last view.

♪♪

This time, it passes right by the camera.

Wait a second. Let me try and enlarge this.

The image is grainy and dark, but they can finally see

He's a white, mature male with a bald head.

We were able to see that he was wearing a dark t-shirt,

A black t-shirt.

Narrator: the footage from walmart

Has given investigators a vital lead.

That was exciting to us

Because we were getting closer and closer

To what we thought potentially could be our suspect.

Narrator: detectives urgently distribute images of the vehicle

And driver to officers throughout the area.

♪♪

At the shell family home,

Shirley's daughters gather to comfort their father.

Fream: my thought was I just wanted

To be there as quickly as I could.

Come on.

Cindy had kept saying, "I don't understand.

I don't understand why."

We were all somewhat numb, I think,

To some extent, just in disbelief.

Joe: I couldn't even see my wife at the point in time,

So it was very emotional.

There's no question about that.

♪♪

Narrator: eight days after shirley shell's m*rder,

Police are still on the lookout

For the four-door burgundy vehicle

And driver captured on walmart surveillance footage.

The driver is a mature male, bald,

He's wearing dark clothing.

What are we missing?

Narrator: but a brainstorming session sparks a new thought.

What if he was there earlier?

If the driver of the burgundy vehicle is shirley's k*ller,

Did he scout the crime scene and pass by walmart

Earlier on the night of her m*rder?

To find out,

Detectives rewind the walmart security footage.

But there's no sign of the vehicle.

Then police discover footage from another camera

Overlooking the lot.

Stop there. Zoom in.

Their hunch pays off.

Detectives discover the burgundy vehicle

Is parked behind a tree at midnight,

More than two hours before they first saw it enter the lot.

Didn't appear anybody was inside it.

Police realize that at any second, the driver could return.

It's the moment they've been waiting for --

A chance to finally see the face of shirley's k*ller.

Stop.

♪♪

Narrator: eight days after shirley shell's m*rder,

Detectives from edmond p.d. Are desperate to i.d.

The driver of a four-door burgundy vehicle.

♪♪

Wait. That's him.

We're able to see a person walking toward the car.

Freeze it.

Go tighter.

Narrator: it looks like the same white male they saw in footage

From the first walmart camera.

He's, what, 6'1", 6'2"?

Getting our eyes on the actual person that was in that car

Who was acting suspicious during the time of the m*rder,

That was exciting.

We were getting closer and closer.

Narrator: but frustratingly, he doesn't turn to camera.

Okay, move on.

The driver gets in, backs up,

But then, strangely,

He re-parks just feet away.

♪♪

He's just sitting there.

What's he doing?



Detectives watched the driver back up, then leave the lot.

They flip to a second camera.

♪♪

Walmart store's at the bottom of the screen, right?

Yeah.

So this guy's walking to his vehicle

From the walmart.

Oak: so once we determine that the person had come

From inside the store to the car,

We started looking at interior cameras

To try to track that person inside the store.

♪♪

Narrator: the driver of the burgundy vehicle,

And the lead suspect in shirley shell's m*rder,

Is standing at the store entrance

With his back to camera.

Come on, come on.

Finally, he turns around.

At last, detectives can see his face.

But they also spot something else.

He's wearing a company tag.

Their suspect is a walmart employee.

Detectives hurry back to the store to look for him.

But he's not there.

You recognize this guy?

The store manager identifies him

As 47-year-old harold warner.

Detectives bring him in for an interview.

Warner: there was a couple in the store shopping.

We get a lot of shoplifters.

Narrator: police question him about his odd behavior

In the parking lot the night of shirley's m*rder.

Oak: he talked about how he was actually

Watching a couple people

That he thought were up to no good.

So I left the store, got in my car, and followed them.

He was actually trying to get a tag number and keep eyes

On these other people that were looking suspicious.

Narrator: the walmart store manager confirms his story.

All right.

Thanks for your time.

Harold warner is ruled out as a suspect.

Detectives are back to square one.

♪♪

Jemes: I might take some groceries over to dad later.

Fream: yeah.

Narrator: three weeks after

Shirley's m*rder,

Her family are desperate for answers.

Still reeling from their loss,

They continue to look after their mother's affairs.

Cindy and I had a little routine every day

Where we go by, pick up the mail,

Go through any new bills,

Ensure that the bills were paid on time.

Fream: everything okay?

It's a -- a visa credit card.

I didn't even know mom had a credit card.

It had charges from that day of her m*rder

For probably the next two weeks.

What are all these transactions?

There were some charges made after the point in time

In which my mom had been k*lled.

Narrator: they immediately contact the police.

So this just arrived today?

Yeah, like I said, I didn't even know

Mom had a credit card with this bank.

We've been tracking shirley's credit cards

That had been taken,

And there was no activity on those cards.

As it turns out, shirley had one more credit card.

Joe didn't know about it.

Neither of the daughters or the son knew about it.

Narrator: it's the lead police have been looking for.

Someone has used shirley's credit card at 20 gas stations

Across five states.

They contact the gas station owners and hit the road.

Wise: we were tracking a k*ller.

Our job was to capture any type of surveillance footage

At these different gas stations that were being used,

Get us that first look at what our suspect looked like

And what he possibly may be driving.

Narrator: many gas stations don't have any relevant footage.

Wise: there was a lot of strikeouts that we had along the way.

It's about a half mile up here on the right.

Okay.

Narrator: after driving more than 800 miles,

Detectives finally reach indiana.

They arrive at their 12th gas station,

Marathon oil in cloverdale.

They're in luck.

The owner confirms that someone used shirley's credit card

To pay for gas on june 29th, three weeks after her m*rder.

And he has security camera footage.

Oak: all right. Let's take a look at that.

Narrator: finally, investigators are closing in,

And they're about to come face to face

With shirley's k*ller.

Stop.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: police investigating shirley shell's m*rder

Queue up gas station surveillance footage

To just before 6:41 on june 29th

When her card was used at pump number three.

♪♪

♪♪

There.

At 6:39 they spot a vehicle at the third pump.

So far away.

Is there any way you can enlarge that?

Can you stop it?

Person gets out and begins pumping gas.

We saw that he was a black male

And he was driving a dark-colored vehicle.

Narrator: with eyes fixed on the screen,

Detectives wait for the driver to head toward camera.

♪♪

Wise: I was hoping that the suspect would come into the store

And actually make a purchase.

Unfortunately, at that time, he didn't.

Instead, the driver pays at the pump using a credit card.

We were able to confirm,

Based on date, time that that was in fact

Shirley shell's credit card being used.

Narrator: investigators are convinced

They are looking at shirley's k*ller.

Finally, at that point time, we realize we've got him.

♪♪

You have any other angles?

Narrator: to i.d. The vehicle,

They switched to footage from a second camera.

There.

The image is pixilated, but what it shows is unmistakable.

Stop.

The vehicle isn't burgundy.

It's dark green.

This was the very first time that any of us knew

What the suspect possibly looked like

Or what he was possibly driving.

Narrator: investigators issue a bolo for a black male

Driving a dark green four-door vehicle.

But they still need a clear view of their suspect.

To track down more cameras,

They map the locations of all the transactions

On shirley's stolen credit card.

He's in tulsa, conway, and clayton on the 5th,

And on the 6th and 7th he's an oklahoma in joplin.

♪♪

This is a toll road, right?

If he used it,

Then he'll have to pass through one of the toll booths.

Toll booths have cameras.

Detectives urgently reach out to the toll booth operator

And request copies of their surveillance footage.

♪♪

Three weeks after shirley's m*rder,

The shell family suffers another heartache.

Jemes: I think my grandmother had had enough sorrow.

She had lived a long life,

And I think she just decided that she was ready to go.

It was only about three weeks after that she passed away.

So I I definitely think it had a big impact.

♪♪

Narrator: back at edmond p.d.,

Detectives have the toll gate footage

From the state turnpike authority.

The quality is good, but there are 10 lanes to check through.

Chesley: detective wise spent numerous hours

Looking at lanes one through nine

Looking for this small, dark-colored four-door

With a black male driver.

Narrator: he watches one vehicle

After another pass through the toll booth.

None of them match the description

Of the suspect vehicle.

He gets to lane number 10.

Here.

♪♪

Narrator: at 1:22 p.m. On july 6th,

A dark green four-door vehicle pulls up.

Zoom into that.

♪♪

Rewind.

Okay, freeze it.

Chesley: we can tell that it's a black male driver

And he's wearing a striped shirt.

Narrator: the driver pays by cash.

Police are sure it shirley's k*ller.

But there's no license plate on the front of his vehicle.

Wait.

As we're looking at this video more intently...

Pull it.

Is that a plate?

...we noticed that on the dash right in front of the driver,

There appeared to be a license plate.

We could make out in the last two digits of it immediately.

Narrator: the plate number ends "82,"

But two digits aren't enough for an i.d.

So investigators change tack.

They scan the vehicle in forensic detail.

We look at the windshield, the windshield washer dispensers

On the hood, the grille, everything on the car

To try to determine what kind of car it was.

Narrator: they compare it to images of similar models.

We finally determined that it was a mazda 626.

Narrator: police run the make and model along with the two digits

From the license plate through a national vehicle database.

There was only one that came back that matched the vehicle

That we were looking for.

Narrator: it's registered to 36-year-old

Michael gary from akron, ohio.

I ran his criminal history.

He had aggravated burglary, had two counts of r*pe on there.

He was also a registered sex offender.

Narrator: michael gary has a history of violent crime.

If he m*rder*d shirley shell,

Detectives fear he could k*ll again.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives from edmond p.d.

Have identified michael gary from akron, ohio,

As the lead suspect in shirley shell's m*rder.

Akron police make the arrest.

♪♪

Clear!

♪♪

Mr. Gary was there, but he fled out the back door.

Clear!

Narrator: police find his mazda 626 parked outside.

The detectives were able to impound it for us

As possible evidence in the crime.

Narrator: detectives believe that their lead suspect is now on the run.

But they're amazed when, within just 24 hours,

Michael gary turns himself in.

♪♪

Michael gary believes the police raided his home

Because he failed to maintain his registration

As a sex offender.

No, sir.

Michael gary finally admits to using

Shirley's stolen credit card.

But he does deny k*lling her.

Chesley: he came up with some sort of story

On how he received the credit card at a party,

Said that he got it from some guy with dreadlocks

And a scar on his face, and I didn't believe it.

Narrator: police charge michael gary with fraud.

But to get him on m*rder, they need more evidence.

They transport his vehicle

Back to edmond and scour every inch of it.

Hopper: we searched every square inch of that vehicle inside and out.

We even removed the seats from the vehicle, the seatbelts.

We were checking everything and collecting everything

We possibly could for fingerprints, for dna.

When we finally got to the center console

Where the armrest is,

It was just a big mess of sticky coin change.

♪♪

We were both prying apart different pieces of coins.

And amongst all the sticky coin change,

He held up what looks like a keychain.

♪♪

We were just in disbelief at what we had found.

♪♪

Engraved on this keychain

Was the name of shirley shell's husband, joe shell.

A group of people who work for me gave me a keychain.

It actually said joe shell on it.

For some reason I don't know, I just threw that the money jar.

Chesley: mr. Shell,

He's the one that would toss his daily change in that jar,

You know, almost every day.

♪♪

Narrator: confronted with all the evidence --

The keychain, the credit card transactions,

And the security camera footage,

Michael gary finally admits to k*lling shirley shell.

And his confession is caught on camera.

♪♪

Detective chesley can now finally piece together

What happened the night of the m*rder.

Chesley: he needed gas money to get home to ohio.

He got lost heading back,

Wound up in the shells' neighborhood,

Saw lights on in the house.

He went through an unsecured back door,

Went inside.

He went in there to commit a burglary.

He had shirley call joe

Trying to get the pin number for the credit card

That he found in her purse, hoping to get some money.

♪♪

He realized that that was not going to happen.

He leads her down the hall.

He gets her back into her bedroom.

He stabbed her and he cut her throat

And left her there.

And then he saw on the floor

The clear plastic candy jar full of change.

He grabbed that change bucket.

He grabbed a pillow case off the bed,

Dumped it in the pillow case,

And went out the way he came in and drove back to ohio.

There is maybe $100, maybe $200

At the most worth of change in that jar.

And that's basically what shirley was k*lled over.

♪♪

Narrator: on june 2, 2008, michael gary

Is sentenced to life without parole,

Plus 40 years for the first-degree m*rder

Of shirley shell.

♪♪

Chesley: video played a huge role in helping us solve this crime,

Getting video from the gas stations

And ultimately the turnpike.

The toll booth video,

That was the thing that broke it wide open.

♪♪

Saddest thing about my wife's m*rder is the fact

That I don't get to be with her.

He took away the fact that we were gonna spend time together

And be together

And love doing things together.

Jemes: mom was the center of our family,

And everyone will say that she kind of was the glue.

He took a great person out of the world,

And you just can't replace that.

You know, there's no substitute.

I was never able to give her a final hug

And just tell her I love her.

♪♪