January 17, 2025 • 22 mins
What happens when the safety of a community is shattered by the unthinkable? Join me as we navigate the haunting mysteries surrounding the unsolved abductions and murders of Heidi Seaman and Erica Botello. I will explore the unsettling details of Heidi and Erica's disappearance and murder and the broader implications this case had on the San Antonio community 35 years ago.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome all of you wine and true crime lovers.
I'm Brandi and this is TexasWine and True Crime.
Thank you for being here,friends, for this week's episode
the Heidi Seaman and EricaPoteo cases.
Tonight I am sipping on a 2022Sweet Muscat from my friends at
Texas Wine Collective.
The Texas Wine Collective isthe home of the renowned Texas
(00:42):
wines vineyards, includingBrennan Vineyards, lost Oak
Winery and McPherson Cellars.
Brennan Vineyards was foundedin 2001.
Their love of wine has broughtthem to where they are today.
Brennan Vineyards is located atone of the oldest remaining
homesteads in Texas and iscommitted to authenticity from
ground to glass and consumertransparency with all of their
(01:03):
products.
Lost Oak Winery near Burleson,texas.
Gene Estes began his winemakingcareer in 1963 in his family's
garage.
After years of determined focusand education in US and France,
he perfected both his grapegrowing and winemaking skills.
Lost Oak Winery was founded in2006 with the purchase of Lone
(01:24):
Oak Vineyards.
Now, although Kim McPherson haspainted the modern portrait of
high quality winemaking in Texas, his father, clint Doc
McPherson, provided all therequisite tools needed.
What started out as anexperimental vine planting in
the 1960s, at a time when therewere virtually none in the
entire state, evolved into anextraordinary framework that has
(01:46):
since shaped the Texas HighPlains landscape.
Today Doc is, and always willbe recognized as one of the
founding fathers of modern Texaswine.
So please go visit our friendsin the heart of Fredericksburg
at Texas Wine Collective andtell them your friends at Texas
Wine and True Crime sent you.
Or, for easy shopping andshipping, hop on their website
at texaswinecollectivecom tobrowse their wine and cider shop
(02:08):
.
Tonight I want to discuss theunsolved tragic murders of both
Heidi Seaman and Erica Botteo inSan Antonio.
So it has been 35 years sinceboth of these girls were
abducted and murdered withinweeks of each other.
Both of these cases,unfortunately, are a stark
(02:32):
reminder that something terriblecan happen even in the safest
of environments.
Heidi disappears within yardsof her home and Erica is taken
from the playground area at theapartment complex where she
lived with her family.
On August 4, 1990, heidi was ata friend's house enjoying a
slumber sleepover with friends.
When it was time for Heidi togo home the next day, the friend
(02:54):
walked her about halfway homeand then Heidi was to walk the
rest of the way.
She was supposed to be home bynoon.
She was last seen walking weston Stahl Road.
Now there is an elementaryschool where she attended,
called Stahl Elementary.
So this is a neighborhoodschool.
It's a familiar area, familiarstreets to her and I looked at a
(03:17):
map of this and it is shockingthat this young girl is taken so
close to her home.
There's a level of trust inthis community, there's a level
of comfort in this community andI can see by looking at the map
(03:37):
why they would feel comfortablewith her walking home from this
location, based on where thefamily was living.
So the Seamans were at homethat day just doing things
around the house when theynoticed at 1230, heidi had not
come home yet.
Her mother would later say thatthey knew immediately something
was wrong, since she was alwayshome on time.
(03:58):
So she was supposed to be homeat 12.
It's now 1230.
They're worried.
Heidi's mother calls thefriend's house where Heidi had
been spending the night beforeand once she finds out from the
friend that she had walked Heidito the halfway point and that,
based on the timeline, heidishould have already been home by
(04:20):
then.
So mother is panicked and sheimmediately calls the San
Antonio Police Department.
Heidi is 11 years old at thetime, so the search for her
begins immediately.
Police officers arrive,neighbors, the seamen, they're
starting to drive around lookingfor Heidi.
So during this preliminaryinvestigation officers did
(04:43):
confirm that heidi's friendwalked with heidi to a halfway
point between the girls's house.
So they went and spoke to thegirl.
They spoke to the family, um,the friend also told police that
while she was walking back toher home she looked back to
check on heidi and noticed thatshe was no longer there, um, but
she didn't hear anything likescreaming or any frantic voices
(05:07):
coming that made her turn around.
She just looked to see if herfriend was still there.
Now the friend also will tellpolice that she saw a red car
slowing down and looking at thegirls.
She tells police that she seesthis car pass her and Heidi at
least three times.
Now she can provide somedetails about what this person
(05:29):
driving the red car may havelooked like.
And they did come up with acomposite sketch of the driver.
You know this reminds mesimilarly of.
You know, with the car passingback and forth.
There was something that hadhappened in Richardson, texas,
not that long ago and thankfullyit was caught on the ring
(05:49):
camera.
But there was a young girl whowas walking with her phone and
coming home from school and shesaw the same vehicle passing her
multiple times.
She ends up hiding behind atruck.
Now this is all caught again onring camera.
She's hiding behind a car thatis sitting in a driveway and you
see her, because eventuallythis will come out in the news
(06:10):
and we'll be able to get to seethe footage of this camera.
You see the car going back andforth and you see her ducking
down and then trying to get alook at the car and then ducking
down.
So thankfully the person whoowned the home had the door open
but the screen door closed andthe dog was jumping on the
screen door because he saw thegirl hiding behind the vehicle.
(06:31):
So the owner comes out, shetells them what's happening,
they call police and thankfullythis young lady was able to hide
.
So you know, parents, we'rehere to teach our kids to pay
attention to things and this isthis is one of them.
So the San Antonio community gotvery involved very quickly.
Heb actually put up a reward tohelp find Heidi.
The San Antonio Spurs offeredtheir assistance.
(06:53):
The mayor at the timedesignated August 11th 1990 as
to be find Heidi day.
Um, and that day they encourageresidents all to come out and
that day they encouragedresidents all to come out help
with the search.
At one point they said therewere over 300,000 people
searching on that day for Heidi.
(07:14):
Now, during the time people aresearching for this young girl,
another girl goes missing onAugust the 23rd from the front
yard where she was playing atthe apartment complex where she
lived with her family.
This was seven-year-old EricaBotello.
Now you have two missing girlsin San Antonio.
So the volunteers, families,neighbors, they asked the
(07:37):
community to expand their searchefforts for not just one girl
but for both girls.
Right, so the community is youalready have Heidi gone, they're
looking for her, but now youhave a young girl that is also
abducted and you, you've got tonow focus on both you.
They didn't want all theresources used just to look for
(07:58):
Heidi.
So the community of San Antoniowas in sheer panic at this point
.
Both girls were taken withinfeet of their homes by
presumably, presumably sheerpanic.
At this point, both girls weretaken within feet of their homes
by presumably total strangers.
At this point you have twodisappearances in the rarest of
forms, because strangerabductions of children are
extremely rare.
You know, sadly, we are morelikely to be abducted and killed
(08:21):
by someone that knows us.
So this is, I can just imaginewhat the San Antonio community
was thinking.
You know, we have someone outhere who's taking kids.
Sadly, the search ended forHeidi on August 25th 1990, after
her body is found by alandowner in rural area of
Wimberley, texas.
This is about 60 miles from SanAntonio.
(08:45):
Her body had been wrapped in ablanket and she was covered
basically in plastic trash bags.
An autopsy determined Heidi hadmost likely been strangled to
death, although decompositionhad set in at that time.
So her exact manner of deathcould actually not be determined
.
It was also reported thatrestraints may have been used on
(09:09):
her, which tells me they mayhave seen marks on her, on her
wrist or something to give themthat idea.
The blanket, the bags, the ideaof the restraints being used,
the location of her body.
This tells us that theperpetrator may have not
immediately killed Heidi.
(09:33):
You have to drive a significantamount of way, so where are you
taking?
You're not going to be able todrive 60 miles with a girl you
just abducted in the car, unlessyou've incapacitated her
somehow or you know.
But this is a long way to gowith someone that you've just
abducted in the car, unlessyou've incapacitated her somehow
or you know, but.
But this is a long way to gowith someone that you've just
(09:53):
abducted that is fighting fortheir life and wanting out of
this vehicle.
So was she brought somewhereelse and then this happens to
her?
Is the perpetrator living,living in Wimberley Texas?
We know that one of thesuspects in this case actually
owned property in WimberleyTexas at the time, so you know
(10:17):
this was.
Finding her body in thatlocation may also just be a
signal of the comfortability ofthe perpetrator in this area.
You know, maybe they live nearthe location they wanted her
taken away from the search.
Right People are out therelooking for her and this is
going to make it harder to findher.
(10:38):
Within a day of Heidi beingfound, seven-year-old Erica was
also found in a storm drain lessthan a mile from her apartment
complex.
Police believe she was taken,possibly put in a vehicle and
then her body dumped in thestorm drain.
Her autopsy determined she hadbeen beaten and strangled.
Both cases remain unsolved.
(11:00):
Now police know very early onin this investigation that these
two cases are not related andwere not committed by the same
person.
There seems to be more of aneffort I would say to conceal in
Heidi's abduction, in myopinion, whereas Erica is taken,
(11:22):
killed and her body is foundclose to her home.
So this tells me that theperpetrators are probably from
that immediate area where Ericais taken and they have done
something terrible and need toget rid of her quickly, which is
why they put her in the stormdrain not far from where she
actually lived.
Now police actually make anarrest in Erica's case within
days of her body being found.
(11:43):
They arrest 17-year-oldRoderick Springs, 31-year-old
Sherman Bedford III and31-year-old Kenneth Earl Pope.
Now all three are arrested andcharged with capital murder in
the death of seven-year-oldErica and held on a
million-dollar bond for each ofthem.
Now we know these cases arestill classified as unsolved,
(12:03):
which means these capitalcharges are eventually dropped.
In December of 1990, a BexarCounty grand jury declined to
indict the two men, shermanBedford and Kenneth Hope, for
the death of Erica.
Both men are mentally disabledwith less than an average IQ,
and the grand jury said therejust isn't enough evidence to
(12:24):
charge these men with her murder.
Now one of the suspects,sherman Bedford, was said to
have had made statements to thepolice during questioning that
implicated himself and theothers in her abduction.
But the court actually foundand felt that this implication
of guilt may have been coercedduring questioning by police.
(12:44):
The only eyewitness to Erica'sabduction was a seven-year-old,
who identified eyewitnessidentification right.
One of the best pieces ofevidence you can have is an
eyewitness who identified17-year-old Roderick as the last
person seen talking to Erica.
That same child tells policethey heard a scream, looked out
(13:09):
the window again and Erica wasgone.
So this is interesting.
You have three people arrestedon capital murder.
They are going to be chargedwith capital murder, brought to
a grand jury.
Okay, da wants to make surethere is enough evidence before
bringing this to a grand juryfor the fear of this happening.
(13:29):
Right, that they're going to belet off because there's not
enough evidence to indict them.
And this is exactly whathappened.
So did they jump the gun onthis?
Were they?
You know, were there mistakesmade in the interrogation room
and the kind of questions thatwere being asked?
And, you know, was theremisleading information that the
(13:52):
police are offering up to theseindividuals as they're
questioning them?
So grand jury thought so.
So they decided not to indictbecause of the lack of evidence.
Police believe to this day thatSprings and Bedford were
responsible for Erica'sabduction and murder.
Unfortunately there just wasn'tenough evidence at the time.
(14:12):
I can only assume there isn'tenough evidence today, but we
also know that that can changein a blink of an eye when
someone has information thatthey can call in and share and
bring justice to Erica's case.
Now police feel like they aremaking some headway into finding
out who abducted and murderedHeidi Seaman.
In fact they did announce aprime suspect and that suspect
(14:35):
is Major Robert Eric Duncan.
Now this is someone in themilitary working with Heidi's
father.
At the time he was also helpinglead search efforts and helping
in the investigation very earlyon search efforts in helping in
the investigation very early on.
And now they are saying he hadthe motive and the means to
abduct and murder this younggirl.
(14:56):
And what is that motive?
There was beef between him andHeidi's dad and because of that
incident between the two thiswas his way of getting back at
the Seaman family family.
He is arrested by the militarypolice in 1992 for the abduction
and murder of heidi.
Now there was also another umlongtime suspect considered in
(15:17):
this case and his name is jerryneighbor um.
He's a convicted drug dealerdrifter living in the area at
the time, um, but there justwasn't enough.
I would say in my research,these are probably the most
likely suspects.
Are these two men?
One thing that really kind ofhit off on police was when Eric
(15:40):
Duncan, you know when they'relooking for Heidi, he makes a
phone call to his wife, who'sactually working for the
Dripping Springs newspaper atthe time, and he's asking her
questions about.
You know, are they?
What are they looking for?
Are they in the area?
You know, police thought thiswas a little strange.
I mean, he is reallyintersecting himself into this
(16:01):
investigation, asking you knowhe's in the military, he has
access to people and he startsreally, you know, putting
himself in the middle of thisinvestigation and he supposedly
hates her father, and so much sothat you know he's overheard
where they worked in themilitary base and building that
(16:27):
he's heard talking about Heidi'sfather very poorly.
So for him to sort of lead thissearch, get involved.
You know, it was a littlestrange for some people and then
it seemed a little strange forpolice.
So back in 2010, he said he wasworking on a book about this
(16:49):
case.
Now I don't know if I don'tknow the progress of that book.
I did not see a book out aboutthis case.
If you do, please let me know,because I could not find it.
I don't see that.
You know it's interesting.
This kind of reminds me of likean OJ Simpson book.
If you haven't read OJSimpson's book, I don't know,
(17:11):
you might want to.
But it's basically well if Idid it, if I did do it right.
Here's how it happened.
And so was this book sort of aconfession, sort of a soul, you
know, pouring out the soul ofwhat could be a burden on it
because of what he's done.
And again, I haven't seen thatthis book has been released.
(17:35):
But you know he was going towrite a book.
Again, pretty strange, prettyawkward, considering that there
was, you know, no good bloodbetween Major and the father.
Now there is just no physicalevidence in this case tying
either men to this crime.
Jerry Naber, several peoplecame forward and said that they
(17:58):
actually saw Jerry neighbor withAmanda seaman, but these, you
know these, were basicallydismissed since the people
coming forward with theinformation were mostly ex-cons.
So I'm sure police reallylooked into this and tried to
see whether or not Jerryneighbor did see Heidi seaman or
(18:19):
have any sort of interactionwith her, but they just actually
could not confirm thatinformation.
Now, robert Eric Duncan, youknow, would he be?
You know, you have to thinkabout this, right.
So we talk about the twoabductions.
I say police are probably Idon't want to say they're
further ahead on one case thanthe other, because that's not
(18:40):
what I want to say, but what Ido want to say is because of
where Erica Botello was found.
She's found within, you know,not far from where her apartment
complex.
She's found in a storm drain.
That was a, you know, a crimeof opportunity.
They took the young girl, theydid what they did and then they
left her and then they wantedout quickly, right?
(19:01):
So they didn't go far fromwhere she's taken, which tells
me they're probably in theneighborhood, in the apartment
complex, and had access to her.
Heidi's is a little moredifficult.
You have a girl who is in herneighborhood, but is this also a
crime of opportunity?
Because you have to wonder, youknow, in order to abduct her
from the point of leaving thehouse with her friend to the
(19:22):
point of getting to her home, ifyou were waiting on her, you
would have had to know where sheis, if somebody, if this was a
planned abduction.
Okay, if this was planned,robert Eric Duncan or Jerry
Naber would have had to knowthat she was going to be walking
from that friend's house home.
And how would they know that?
(19:43):
We know that they were bothseen, or at least relatively
close to where the Seamans lived.
We also know that there was ared vehicle that was in the
possession of Robert Eric Duncan.
Also know that there was a redvehicle that was in the
possession of Robert Eric Duncan.
(20:07):
So this is the piece for Heidi'scase.
That's hard because you havethen her body found 60 miles
away and you know now you'rehaving to leave the immediate
area of where she's taken andthen go to the area where she's
found and figure out whathappened in between.
There were some signs thatmaybe they believed that Heidi
had been tortured a little bitor, you know again, with the
(20:28):
restraints.
So you know, was she takenlocally, kept locally and then
moved to Wimberley because ofthe days that passed?
You know, I just don't know ifpolice have those answers.
I definitely don't have apolice record.
These cases are still consideredunsolved, so we wouldn't be
able to get any of thatinformation.
But I can tell you that Amandaor Heidi Seaman's family.
(20:53):
They absolutely 100% thoughtthat Major Duncan was
responsible for this crime.
So right now both of thesecases are unsolved, but if you
have any information about theabductions and murders of either
(21:15):
Heidi Seaman or Erica Boteo,please contact the San Antonio
Police Department.
Both of these cases remainedunsolved, but it just takes that
one person to come forward tohelp get justice served for
these two girls.
Until next time, friends, staysafe, have fun and cheers to
next time.
Bye.
Welcome all of you wine and true crime lovers.
I'm Brandi and this is TexasWine and True Crime.
Thank you for being here,friends, for this week's episode
the Heidi Seaman and EricaPoteo cases.
Tonight I am sipping on a 2022Sweet Muscat from my friends at
Texas Wine Collective.
The Texas Wine Collective isthe home of the renowned Texas
(00:42):
wines vineyards, includingBrennan Vineyards, lost Oak
Winery and McPherson Cellars.
Brennan Vineyards was foundedin 2001.
Their love of wine has broughtthem to where they are today.
Brennan Vineyards is located atone of the oldest remaining
homesteads in Texas and iscommitted to authenticity from
ground to glass and consumertransparency with all of their
(01:03):
products.
Lost Oak Winery near Burleson,texas.
Gene Estes began his winemakingcareer in 1963 in his family's
garage.
After years of determined focusand education in US and France,
he perfected both his grapegrowing and winemaking skills.
Lost Oak Winery was founded in2006 with the purchase of Lone
(01:24):
Oak Vineyards.
Now, although Kim McPherson haspainted the modern portrait of
high quality winemaking in Texas, his father, clint Doc
McPherson, provided all therequisite tools needed.
What started out as anexperimental vine planting in
the 1960s, at a time when therewere virtually none in the
entire state, evolved into anextraordinary framework that has
(01:46):
since shaped the Texas HighPlains landscape.
Today Doc is, and always willbe recognized as one of the
founding fathers of modern Texaswine.
So please go visit our friendsin the heart of Fredericksburg
at Texas Wine Collective andtell them your friends at Texas
Wine and True Crime sent you.
Or, for easy shopping andshipping, hop on their website
at texaswinecollectivecom tobrowse their wine and cider shop
(02:08):
.
Tonight I want to discuss theunsolved tragic murders of both
Heidi Seaman and Erica Botteo inSan Antonio.
So it has been 35 years sinceboth of these girls were
abducted and murdered withinweeks of each other.
Both of these cases,unfortunately, are a stark
(02:32):
reminder that something terriblecan happen even in the safest
of environments.
Heidi disappears within yardsof her home and Erica is taken
from the playground area at theapartment complex where she
lived with her family.
On August 4, 1990, heidi was ata friend's house enjoying a
slumber sleepover with friends.
When it was time for Heidi togo home the next day, the friend
(02:54):
walked her about halfway homeand then Heidi was to walk the
rest of the way.
She was supposed to be home bynoon.
She was last seen walking weston Stahl Road.
Now there is an elementaryschool where she attended,
called Stahl Elementary.
So this is a neighborhoodschool.
It's a familiar area, familiarstreets to her and I looked at a
(03:17):
map of this and it is shockingthat this young girl is taken so
close to her home.
There's a level of trust inthis community, there's a level
of comfort in this community andI can see by looking at the map
(03:37):
why they would feel comfortablewith her walking home from this
location, based on where thefamily was living.
So the Seamans were at homethat day just doing things
around the house when theynoticed at 1230, heidi had not
come home yet.
Her mother would later say thatthey knew immediately something
was wrong, since she was alwayshome on time.
(03:58):
So she was supposed to be homeat 12.
It's now 1230.
They're worried.
Heidi's mother calls thefriend's house where Heidi had
been spending the night beforeand once she finds out from the
friend that she had walked Heidito the halfway point and that,
based on the timeline, heidishould have already been home by
(04:20):
then.
So mother is panicked and sheimmediately calls the San
Antonio Police Department.
Heidi is 11 years old at thetime, so the search for her
begins immediately.
Police officers arrive,neighbors, the seamen, they're
starting to drive around lookingfor Heidi.
So during this preliminaryinvestigation officers did
(04:43):
confirm that heidi's friendwalked with heidi to a halfway
point between the girls's house.
So they went and spoke to thegirl.
They spoke to the family, um,the friend also told police that
while she was walking back toher home she looked back to
check on heidi and noticed thatshe was no longer there, um, but
she didn't hear anything likescreaming or any frantic voices
(05:07):
coming that made her turn around.
She just looked to see if herfriend was still there.
Now the friend also will tellpolice that she saw a red car
slowing down and looking at thegirls.
She tells police that she seesthis car pass her and Heidi at
least three times.
Now she can provide somedetails about what this person
(05:29):
driving the red car may havelooked like.
And they did come up with acomposite sketch of the driver.
You know this reminds mesimilarly of.
You know, with the car passingback and forth.
There was something that hadhappened in Richardson, texas,
not that long ago and thankfullyit was caught on the ring
(05:49):
camera.
But there was a young girl whowas walking with her phone and
coming home from school and shesaw the same vehicle passing her
multiple times.
She ends up hiding behind atruck.
Now this is all caught again onring camera.
She's hiding behind a car thatis sitting in a driveway and you
see her, because eventuallythis will come out in the news
(06:10):
and we'll be able to get to seethe footage of this camera.
You see the car going back andforth and you see her ducking
down and then trying to get alook at the car and then ducking
down.
So thankfully the person whoowned the home had the door open
but the screen door closed andthe dog was jumping on the
screen door because he saw thegirl hiding behind the vehicle.
(06:31):
So the owner comes out, shetells them what's happening,
they call police and thankfullythis young lady was able to hide
.
So you know, parents, we'rehere to teach our kids to pay
attention to things and this isthis is one of them.
So the San Antonio community gotvery involved very quickly.
Heb actually put up a reward tohelp find Heidi.
The San Antonio Spurs offeredtheir assistance.
(06:53):
The mayor at the timedesignated August 11th 1990 as
to be find Heidi day.
Um, and that day they encourageresidents all to come out and
that day they encouragedresidents all to come out help
with the search.
At one point they said therewere over 300,000 people
searching on that day for Heidi.
(07:14):
Now, during the time people aresearching for this young girl,
another girl goes missing onAugust the 23rd from the front
yard where she was playing atthe apartment complex where she
lived with her family.
This was seven-year-old EricaBotello.
Now you have two missing girlsin San Antonio.
So the volunteers, families,neighbors, they asked the
(07:37):
community to expand their searchefforts for not just one girl
but for both girls.
Right, so the community is youalready have Heidi gone, they're
looking for her, but now youhave a young girl that is also
abducted and you, you've got tonow focus on both you.
They didn't want all theresources used just to look for
(07:58):
Heidi.
So the community of San Antoniowas in sheer panic at this point
.
Both girls were taken withinfeet of their homes by
presumably, presumably sheerpanic.
At this point, both girls weretaken within feet of their homes
by presumably total strangers.
At this point you have twodisappearances in the rarest of
forms, because strangerabductions of children are
extremely rare.
You know, sadly, we are morelikely to be abducted and killed
(08:21):
by someone that knows us.
So this is, I can just imaginewhat the San Antonio community
was thinking.
You know, we have someone outhere who's taking kids.
Sadly, the search ended forHeidi on August 25th 1990, after
her body is found by alandowner in rural area of
Wimberley, texas.
This is about 60 miles from SanAntonio.
(08:45):
Her body had been wrapped in ablanket and she was covered
basically in plastic trash bags.
An autopsy determined Heidi hadmost likely been strangled to
death, although decompositionhad set in at that time.
So her exact manner of deathcould actually not be determined
.
It was also reported thatrestraints may have been used on
(09:09):
her, which tells me they mayhave seen marks on her, on her
wrist or something to give themthat idea.
The blanket, the bags, the ideaof the restraints being used,
the location of her body.
This tells us that theperpetrator may have not
immediately killed Heidi.
(09:33):
You have to drive a significantamount of way, so where are you
taking?
You're not going to be able todrive 60 miles with a girl you
just abducted in the car, unlessyou've incapacitated her
somehow or you know.
But this is a long way to gowith someone that you've just
abducted in the car, unlessyou've incapacitated her somehow
or you know, but.
But this is a long way to gowith someone that you've just
(09:53):
abducted that is fighting fortheir life and wanting out of
this vehicle.
So was she brought somewhereelse and then this happens to
her?
Is the perpetrator living,living in Wimberley Texas?
We know that one of thesuspects in this case actually
owned property in WimberleyTexas at the time, so you know
(10:17):
this was.
Finding her body in thatlocation may also just be a
signal of the comfortability ofthe perpetrator in this area.
You know, maybe they live nearthe location they wanted her
taken away from the search.
Right People are out therelooking for her and this is
going to make it harder to findher.
(10:38):
Within a day of Heidi beingfound, seven-year-old Erica was
also found in a storm drain lessthan a mile from her apartment
complex.
Police believe she was taken,possibly put in a vehicle and
then her body dumped in thestorm drain.
Her autopsy determined she hadbeen beaten and strangled.
Both cases remain unsolved.
(11:00):
Now police know very early onin this investigation that these
two cases are not related andwere not committed by the same
person.
There seems to be more of aneffort I would say to conceal in
Heidi's abduction, in myopinion, whereas Erica is taken,
(11:22):
killed and her body is foundclose to her home.
So this tells me that theperpetrators are probably from
that immediate area where Ericais taken and they have done
something terrible and need toget rid of her quickly, which is
why they put her in the stormdrain not far from where she
actually lived.
Now police actually make anarrest in Erica's case within
days of her body being found.
(11:43):
They arrest 17-year-oldRoderick Springs, 31-year-old
Sherman Bedford III and31-year-old Kenneth Earl Pope.
Now all three are arrested andcharged with capital murder in
the death of seven-year-oldErica and held on a
million-dollar bond for each ofthem.
Now we know these cases arestill classified as unsolved,
(12:03):
which means these capitalcharges are eventually dropped.
In December of 1990, a BexarCounty grand jury declined to
indict the two men, shermanBedford and Kenneth Hope, for
the death of Erica.
Both men are mentally disabledwith less than an average IQ,
and the grand jury said therejust isn't enough evidence to
(12:24):
charge these men with her murder.
Now one of the suspects,sherman Bedford, was said to
have had made statements to thepolice during questioning that
implicated himself and theothers in her abduction.
But the court actually foundand felt that this implication
of guilt may have been coercedduring questioning by police.
(12:44):
The only eyewitness to Erica'sabduction was a seven-year-old,
who identified eyewitnessidentification right.
One of the best pieces ofevidence you can have is an
eyewitness who identified17-year-old Roderick as the last
person seen talking to Erica.
That same child tells policethey heard a scream, looked out
(13:09):
the window again and Erica wasgone.
So this is interesting.
You have three people arrestedon capital murder.
They are going to be chargedwith capital murder, brought to
a grand jury.
Okay, da wants to make surethere is enough evidence before
bringing this to a grand juryfor the fear of this happening.
(13:29):
Right, that they're going to belet off because there's not
enough evidence to indict them.
And this is exactly whathappened.
So did they jump the gun onthis?
Were they?
You know, were there mistakesmade in the interrogation room
and the kind of questions thatwere being asked?
And, you know, was theremisleading information that the
(13:52):
police are offering up to theseindividuals as they're
questioning them?
So grand jury thought so.
So they decided not to indictbecause of the lack of evidence.
Police believe to this day thatSprings and Bedford were
responsible for Erica'sabduction and murder.
Unfortunately there just wasn'tenough evidence at the time.
(14:12):
I can only assume there isn'tenough evidence today, but we
also know that that can changein a blink of an eye when
someone has information thatthey can call in and share and
bring justice to Erica's case.
Now police feel like they aremaking some headway into finding
out who abducted and murderedHeidi Seaman.
In fact they did announce aprime suspect and that suspect
(14:35):
is Major Robert Eric Duncan.
Now this is someone in themilitary working with Heidi's
father.
At the time he was also helpinglead search efforts and helping
in the investigation very earlyon search efforts in helping in
the investigation very early on.
And now they are saying he hadthe motive and the means to
abduct and murder this younggirl.
(14:56):
And what is that motive?
There was beef between him andHeidi's dad and because of that
incident between the two thiswas his way of getting back at
the Seaman family family.
He is arrested by the militarypolice in 1992 for the abduction
and murder of heidi.
Now there was also another umlongtime suspect considered in
(15:17):
this case and his name is jerryneighbor um.
He's a convicted drug dealerdrifter living in the area at
the time, um, but there justwasn't enough.
I would say in my research,these are probably the most
likely suspects.
Are these two men?
One thing that really kind ofhit off on police was when Eric
(15:40):
Duncan, you know when they'relooking for Heidi, he makes a
phone call to his wife, who'sactually working for the
Dripping Springs newspaper atthe time, and he's asking her
questions about.
You know, are they?
What are they looking for?
Are they in the area?
You know, police thought thiswas a little strange.
I mean, he is reallyintersecting himself into this
(16:01):
investigation, asking you knowhe's in the military, he has
access to people and he startsreally, you know, putting
himself in the middle of thisinvestigation and he supposedly
hates her father, and so much sothat you know he's overheard
where they worked in themilitary base and building that
(16:27):
he's heard talking about Heidi'sfather very poorly.
So for him to sort of lead thissearch, get involved.
You know, it was a littlestrange for some people and then
it seemed a little strange forpolice.
So back in 2010, he said he wasworking on a book about this
(16:49):
case.
Now I don't know if I don'tknow the progress of that book.
I did not see a book out aboutthis case.
If you do, please let me know,because I could not find it.
I don't see that.
You know it's interesting.
This kind of reminds me of likean OJ Simpson book.
If you haven't read OJSimpson's book, I don't know,
(17:11):
you might want to.
But it's basically well if Idid it, if I did do it right.
Here's how it happened.
And so was this book sort of aconfession, sort of a soul, you
know, pouring out the soul ofwhat could be a burden on it
because of what he's done.
And again, I haven't seen thatthis book has been released.
(17:35):
But you know he was going towrite a book.
Again, pretty strange, prettyawkward, considering that there
was, you know, no good bloodbetween Major and the father.
Now there is just no physicalevidence in this case tying
either men to this crime.
Jerry Naber, several peoplecame forward and said that they
(17:58):
actually saw Jerry neighbor withAmanda seaman, but these, you
know these, were basicallydismissed since the people
coming forward with theinformation were mostly ex-cons.
So I'm sure police reallylooked into this and tried to
see whether or not Jerryneighbor did see Heidi seaman or
(18:19):
have any sort of interactionwith her, but they just actually
could not confirm thatinformation.
Now, robert Eric Duncan, youknow, would he be?
You know, you have to thinkabout this, right.
So we talk about the twoabductions.
I say police are probably Idon't want to say they're
further ahead on one case thanthe other, because that's not
(18:40):
what I want to say, but what Ido want to say is because of
where Erica Botello was found.
She's found within, you know,not far from where her apartment
complex.
She's found in a storm drain.
That was a, you know, a crimeof opportunity.
They took the young girl, theydid what they did and then they
left her and then they wantedout quickly, right?
(19:01):
So they didn't go far fromwhere she's taken, which tells
me they're probably in theneighborhood, in the apartment
complex, and had access to her.
Heidi's is a little moredifficult.
You have a girl who is in herneighborhood, but is this also a
crime of opportunity?
Because you have to wonder, youknow, in order to abduct her
from the point of leaving thehouse with her friend to the
(19:22):
point of getting to her home, ifyou were waiting on her, you
would have had to know where sheis, if somebody, if this was a
planned abduction.
Okay, if this was planned,robert Eric Duncan or Jerry
Naber would have had to knowthat she was going to be walking
from that friend's house home.
And how would they know that?
(19:43):
We know that they were bothseen, or at least relatively
close to where the Seamans lived.
We also know that there was ared vehicle that was in the
possession of Robert Eric Duncan.
Also know that there was a redvehicle that was in the
possession of Robert Eric Duncan.
(20:07):
So this is the piece for Heidi'scase.
That's hard because you havethen her body found 60 miles
away and you know now you'rehaving to leave the immediate
area of where she's taken andthen go to the area where she's
found and figure out whathappened in between.
There were some signs thatmaybe they believed that Heidi
had been tortured a little bitor, you know again, with the
(20:28):
restraints.
So you know, was she takenlocally, kept locally and then
moved to Wimberley because ofthe days that passed?
You know, I just don't know ifpolice have those answers.
I definitely don't have apolice record.
These cases are still consideredunsolved, so we wouldn't be
able to get any of thatinformation.
But I can tell you that Amandaor Heidi Seaman's family.
(20:53):
They absolutely 100% thoughtthat Major Duncan was
responsible for this crime.
So right now both of thesecases are unsolved, but if you
have any information about theabductions and murders of either
(21:15):
Heidi Seaman or Erica Boteo,please contact the San Antonio
Police Department.
Both of these cases remainedunsolved, but it just takes that
one person to come forward tohelp get justice served for
these two girls.
Until next time, friends, staysafe, have fun and cheers to
next time.
Bye.
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