July 14, 2025 • 59 mins
The hunt for a killer ends with a thumbprint and technology that didn't exist when the crimes were committed. After fifteen years, the brutal murders of Margaret Ebby and Nancy Ludwig—killed five years apart in different Michigan cities—are finally connected through DNA evidence, launching a renewed investigation that faces political obstacles from the start.
Detective Dan Snyder, who had lived and breathed the Ludwig case for a decade, nearly gets pushed off the investigation until forensic scientist Heather Helton intervenes, recognizing him as "the investigation embodied." What follows is a masterclass in cold case detective work as a multi-agency task force systematically collects DNA samples from hundreds of people connected to both victims—former lovers, contractors, students, and acquaintances.
When the breakthrough finally comes, it's through a partial fingerprint from the Ebby murder scene that sat in evidence for fifteen years. The FBI's new Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System matches it to Jeffrey Wayne Gordon, a man with a disturbing history of sexual assaults in Florida who had been released from prison just days before Ebby's murder. Remarkably, Gordon was living just miles from the Flint crime scene, hiding in plain sight all along.
The episode also powerfully recounts the story of Marie Gagliano, one of Gordon's early assault victims in Florida, whose attack foreshadowed his escalating violent behavior. Her journey from trauma to recovery provides a window into the lasting impact of violent crime on survivors, ending with her finding both healing and strength.
This chilling case demonstrates how advances in forensic science, combined with relentless detective work, can finally bring justice to victims when traditional methods fail. For everyone involved in investigating these murders, the identification of Gordon validated years of dedication and proved that no case is truly unsolvable when technology catches up to evidence preserved by diligent investigators.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Murder Book.
I'm your host, kiara, and thisis part 10 of Jeffrey Gordon's
Deadly Secret.
Let's begin.
When Barna got word of thecase-to-case hit, he tracked
Helton down to say they havebeen a breakthrough, that they
(00:21):
were on track of a serial killerkiller and that she needed to
meet with Kilbourne ASAP.
So he would need to know thingslike what evidence did they
have stored?
What kind of samples were stillviable?
What was the scene like?
Barna found her on vacation inthe small Upper Peninsula town
(00:43):
of Garden.
He reached her through thelandline number and she agreed
to come to a meeting at theFlint Post as soon as she was
back in a couple of days At theFlint meeting.
From what Cahum said, quote Ihave inklings or tibbets that
then would not be in the loop.
End quote she was and is a bigfan of Snyder's, having worked
(01:12):
several bad scenes with him, andshe would say that you would
never find another morededicated individual like Dan,
never, never.
What you see is what you get.
He's sincere, he's sincere,he's genuine, easily one of the
finest detectives I have everworked with.
If this had to happen to Nancythen thank God it happened in a
(01:34):
place where there will besomeone like Dan, and those were
, you know, very meaningfulwords.
Now none of her cases ever hitHton the way the Ludwig case did
.
Nothing pumped her up more thanfinding that they would make a
breakthrough on it and nothingirritated her more than finding
(01:57):
out that politics were going tokeep the one guy off the case
who absolutely had to be there,not one to normally have an
agenda.
After the first meeting withKilbourne she says quote my only
goal was to get Dan backinvolved.
He was the investigationembodied.
(02:18):
He had every detail becausemore physically and mentally
organized.
You could ask him any questionabout any aspect of the case and
he could respond he was theinvestigation end, quote.
Her second meeting on the casewas with Larson, kilbourne and
(02:39):
Early at the Northville CrimeLab.
Early again said he and Romuluswere swamped and that maybe it
would be best if they justturned the case and the Renew
investigation over to theMichigan State Police and tips
that came into Romulus how aboutthey just forward them on?
Early also told them he hadbrought himself up to speed by
(03:04):
reading the file.
But Helton was dubious.
She thought there's no way youcan learn what you need to know
by reading from a file.
She would try to be fair, givehim a chance.
But almost from the start itwas apparent to her that Dave
Early didn't know a hill ofbeans about this case and she
(03:25):
said quote, I would tell himthings about the case.
He didn't know a hill of beansabout this case.
And she said quote, I wouldtell him things about the case
he didn't know.
I was appalled.
It was a disaster.
End quote.
It was about to get worse.
Hilton finished her line ofconversation at some point and
Early chimed in with his theoryof events in the Hilton hotel
(03:45):
room.
It was his considered opinionthat the killer had in fact
killed Ludwig by hanging herover the curtain rod in the
bathroom.
When he said this, there wasthis heavy silence.
Hilton looked at him as if hehad a twitching rat's tail
sticking out between his closedlips and Hilton said quote.
(04:08):
I was stunned.
I thought that's the stupidestthing I ever heard.
This guy has no investigativeskills at all.
He got no experience with crimescenes.
It's a mindless comment fromdumb bureaucrat.
End quote.
She didn't show anger.
(04:30):
Her skills honed by years ofprecise testimony at trial.
She went point by point througha demolition of Early's theory.
And she told him out flat ofEarly's theory.
And she told him out flat thereis no way, no way.
(04:50):
They would have been entirelydifferent bloodstain patterns at
the scene.
She was quiet and professional.
She laid out the factualinformation why the evidence was
clear.
It didn't take long to slamdunk him and put the kibosh on
that whole harebrained theory.
Now, after that, the meetingsoon ended, early didn't try to
(05:15):
contribute anything else as soonas he left.
Helton says, quote I had ahissy fit to get Dan involved.
Early pissed me off.
It was stupid politics and noone was going to use politics to
cause this case to keep beingfrom self.
End quote.
(05:35):
She told Kilbourne she was notgoing to stand for it, that it
was unconscionable for him toconduct an investigation without
going to the source.
And the source was Dan Snyder.
And she said, quote I wasstanding in for the victim and I
(05:56):
was not going to stand for this.
I was fit to be tied.
It was shameful.
Was Romulus at all interestedin Nancy's interests?
Absolutely not.
It was shameful and almostanother violation of the victim.
(06:18):
End quote.
Things are hazy at this point,the team guy Kilburn not wanting
to claim credit for callingKirby early and laying out what
had to be done.
Somehow the message wasdelivered, though.
By the end of August Early wasoff the case.
Snyder was back on.
Romulus was not going to turnover responsibility for the
(06:38):
renewal investigation to thestate police.
Snyder would be part of thetask force.
He was going to work this thingas hard as he had 10 years
earlier In November, a Romuluspolice patrolman named Al
Lambert with a long history inlocal politics.
In addition to being a cop, overthe years he had also been a
(07:00):
city councilman and a member ofthe school board and a direct
descendant of the old boynetwork that had long run.
The city won the election formayor.
Lambert reportedly didn't likeEarly.
Early was out of the DB andback in uniform.
On December 1st Snyder wasnamed to head up the DB and
(07:23):
promoted to executive lieutenant.
Snyder pulled Melianak out ofhis patrol car and out of
uniform and put him back in thedetective bureau again.
Melianak was assigned to thetask force too.
We'll be right back.
Things happen sometimes, andMelianak knew that We'll be
(07:45):
right back.
Things happen sometimes, andMelianak knew that you make
mistakes.
But the more he thought aboutit, the more it took him off
that Dave King had blown him offso readily more than 10 years
earlier when he had called tofollow up on Mark Eby's tip that
the two murders seemed related.
Up on Mark Eby's tip that thetwo murders seemed related,
(08:07):
melianak had a blood type but itdidn't match Stone's and so the
cases were unrelated accordingto King.
And Melianak had filed Eby'stip away as just another of many
that were dead ends.
And Melianak says, end quoteout of all the tips you work you
hope you don't screw somethingup or miss something.
(08:27):
I was happier than hell to getthe cases linked but I will
always wish I would have takenthe extra step in 1991.
I never went to Flint, I neverinterviewed King directly.
In hindsight I wish I wouldhave worked it harder.
I don't know If I would havehad the experience I have now.
(08:52):
I would like to think Iwouldn't just have taken his
word for it, but he was so sure,end quote.
In 1991, melianak was a youngand experienced homicide
detective in a small town.
King was the Redmond Big Citydetective.
Sometime shortly after CODISlinked the two cases, snyder ran
(09:15):
into King at a policeconvention and they exchanged
introductions.
King was still sure Stone wasthe murderer.
When Snyder said somethingabout the two cases being linked
, after all, making that pointhaving been the reason he would
have wanted to meet him, kingreplied how do you know?
(09:35):
Stone didn't do it and hisanswer was because he got the
wrong DNA.
He got the wrong DNA and Kingthen said well, you know he had
a dog, don't you?
Referring to a dog Stone hadalways traveled with and who
accompanied him to Flint for his1986 visit.
(09:55):
And Snyder?
He just looked at King stunned,taking a moment to digest the
implication.
Taking a moment to digest theimplication.
What was he saying?
That Stone took semen from hisdog and put it into Margaret
Ebby's vagina when he killed herand five years later took more
of the dog's semen and put it inNancy Ludwig's vagina.
(10:17):
Yeah, that's what he was saying.
So Snyder said quote.
At that point I knew there wasnothing I could say and end
quote.
It's an exchange that Kingacknowledges when he says quote.
I still held out the chance wehave been manipulated by Stone,
(10:40):
because he was such a strangefellow and because of his
knowledge In my mind I wonder ifit was something from an animal
.
He was that bizarre end quote.
Now, this is the thing.
Dna told them that the Ebby andLudwig cases were linked.
(11:01):
So too did the crime scenephotos.
Kilbourne had fixed the photosin his memory, not that you
could forget them, having seenthem.
As soon as he saw the Ludwigphotos, it was clear the same
killer had committed both crimes.
The photos were almost likeduplicate prints the slash
(11:26):
throat, the torture marks, thebody rolled over on its stomach.
The first thing Kilburn did inAugust after filing in Romulus
on the Ebi link, was to take thephotos and all the boxes of
information Snyder and Mellinachad amassed back to Flint.
(11:48):
He, larson, corona and Diggsthen went through it all.
They started going through thetips, setting up a computer
program and ranking the tipsaccording to several parameters.
Tips according to severalparameters.
And Kilburn says in quote wecould tell they have done an
(12:09):
excellent job on their tipsheets and follow-ups.
I could tell they have spent atremendous amount of time.
End quote.
Kilburn says Snyder and Malianaklater, when he joined the task
force, fit right in.
They could have groused aboutan outside agency and in fact
(12:30):
critiquing their old work.
They certainly could havegroused when asked to help go
back through 2,300 tips thatthey have already cleared.
But they were terrific clear,but they were terrific.
And he says I got totalcooperation from those two guys.
I knew Dan knew his case.
(12:51):
We were there to learn fromthem and get information out of
them.
This is what Kilbourne issaying.
So they quickly win.
We know the 2,300 down to 100.
And that was the easy part.
And Larson later says, quoteyou should see some of the crap
people had called in Scornedwomen, nutcases, angry next door
(13:17):
neighbors ticked off over longgrass or broken fences.
The best 100 they looked at indetail, eliminated them one by
one.
The task force also beganinterviewing principals and
witnesses in the Ebi case,trying to find a tie to someone
(13:39):
in Romulus or the Detroit era.
It was always part of thephilosophy of the task force
that new or improvedtechnologies would help solve
cases once thought to be as deadas the victims.
Now with a DNA link fromestablished between two such
(14:03):
prominent murders, it was timeto work technology hard.
The Flynn PD didn't think theyhave civil logical evidence.
Romulus had plenty of it andmore than 10 years of
technological advances sincethey have gathered it to support
their investigation.
Many subjects and would-besuspects had been cleared by
(14:26):
saliva or blood tests in Romulus.
When they came across the namesin the Romulus case they had
not been given saliva or bloodtests at that time.
They visited them armed withswabs.
(14:46):
More important, it was pasttime to definitely clear people
in Flint.
So Larson says, quote we wentto every male acquaintance of
Ebby's in every shape or formand asked for DNA swabs of Ebbes
in every shape or form.
And asked for DNA swabs.
Larson or another state copwould vigorously rub the swab
(15:09):
against the lining of the cheek.
Later the collective tissuewould go to the crime lab in
Lansing for a DNA probe.
Former lovers had been reluctantto talk when the case was new.
Fifteen years later they werenot happy especially the ones
(15:37):
who had been married and havingan affair with Ebi to see police
back at their door dredging uptheir sexual past, and this time
with swaps in hand.
Nearly everyone cooperated andthose who did were cleared.
Kilbride and Larson flew toMilwaukee to swap one of Abby's
(15:58):
former lovers, soon.
The feeling was that Kaylawasn't someone she was intimate
with.
They took swaps of family andfriends, of co-workers at UM
Flint, of my employees.
They tracked down WilliamReneker, the organist at Ebby's
Church, who had been at thedinner party with her.
(16:19):
That night she was killed atthe Cypress Retirement Home in
Charlotte, north Carolina.
That night she was killed atthe Cypress Retirement Home in
Charlotte, north Carolina, andhad the Charlotte-Merkenberg
Police Department swap him atthe old folks' home in August 15
, 2001.
(16:41):
That's the same day they wentpublic with information that the
Abbey and Ludwig cases werelinked.
They had wanted to sit on itwhile keeping a secret from the
killer, but news had leaked outof the Romulus PD.
Channel 4 in Detroit had calledthe Flint Journal asking a
(17:02):
reporter there, and so that sameday they went public with
information that the Evick andLubbock cases were linked.
(17:25):
They had wanted to sit on itfor a while to keep it a secret
from the killer.
The news, of course, had leakedout of the Romulus PD.
Channel 4 in Detroit had calledthe Flint Journal asking a
reporter there.
What he knew.
The reporter called the FlintPD and at 4.30 pm Chief
Barksdale held a pressconference and announced that
(17:47):
DNA tests had linked the twounsolved murders.
They were back in the headlinesand a tip line was set up and
the tips poured in.
Police swapped Jonathan Ebby inAugust and he too was cleared.
He also told them how angry hewas to find out the cases were
linked, something he hadsuspected and tried to alert
(18:09):
police.
In the days after Lowick waskilled, police compiled a list
of hundreds of horticulturalstudents from Michigan State who
had worked at the estate duringthe summer.
Over a period of several monthsabout 130 swabs were taken and
130 persons cleared, includingone would-be suspect that
(18:33):
tracked down in the PinellasCounty, german, florida.
Hal Settle, who was pulled offthe prostitute case, and Charles
Diggs, travel the state givingbuckle swaps to former Flint
residents who had moved.
(18:54):
Other police agencies inFlorida, pennsylvania, wisconsin
, texas, ohio, mississippi andWashington visited people from
the too-clear list who live intheir states and swapped them.
If they couldn't get approvalsthey resorted to other means to
(19:16):
gather DNA.
On August 18, they got the okayfrom the owners of the Heritage
Food and Spirits restaurant innearby Fenton to take an empty
bottle of Killian's Irish Redbeer, water, glass, napkin,
dinner plate and utensils theywatched a suspect use.
On August 31st the lab reportedthat the DNA had cleared on him
(19:39):
.
The task force also beganworking through the population
of people the Flint PD hadoverlooked contractors and some
contractors.
Mott has the most unbelievablerecords that everybody can have
seen.
The police found meticulousrecords of who was on the estate
(20:03):
doing what at what time of day,and he says, quote we wanted to
know what kind of contractorsmight have been affiliated with
the Mudd estate that might havegiven them access to the
gatehouse.
They came up with the names of32 contractors who had done work
(20:25):
at the estate in 1985 and 1986,including landscapers,
electricians, architects,insulation companies, pavers,
asphalt groups, excavators,painters and a lawn sprinkler
(20:46):
company.
They even swapped a formerjournalism student at Wayne
State University whose professor, ben Burns, had assigned the
case to his students.
But this student continued tohang around the Romulus PD
(21:27):
asking for the case for years.
He, even after dropping out ofschool, seemed so preoccupied by
it that the police finallythought that they would better
clear him.
So they took his swap onDecember 17, 2001.
(21:48):
The task force subpoenaedrecords from UM Flynn and
compiled a list of 150 names andaddresses of Abby's former
pupils, and then they draftedletters asking if they would
submit to swabs.
They put the letters in yellowmanila envelopes, but they would
never be mailed.
(22:08):
The envelopes still sit at theMichigan State Police post in
Flint unstamped, just beforesettled could run them through
the postage meter and beforethey could finish going through
the list of employees of all thesubcontractors, they got in
(22:30):
trouble, so they got anotherdramatic break in the case.
We'll be right back Early onBorn that among the physical
bits of evidence from the Ebicrime was a color photo of a
bloody fingerprint on thebathroom faucet.
(22:55):
It was, according to Bonnet, oneof those lo and behold moments.
Nothing much had been made ofthe print at the time.
It was too much of a partialgiven the technology at the time
to be of value.
In 1986, unless you had aperfect full print, the Fed's
(23:16):
computers were useless.
The Michigan State Police wouldnot have a rudimentary computer
fingerprint ID system until1989.
And the only way you could linka partial print to a killer was
to already have a suspect inmind, take his prints and see
how they compare.
(23:36):
Even if the killer's printswere on file with the FBI, it
would have taken thousands ofman-hours to physically pull
prints out of files and visuallycompare them to the partial.
But times have changed.
That was the whole point of thetask force.
(24:08):
One of Larson's job was to workthe fingerprint angle to enter
the EB partial into an automatedfingerprint identification
system called AFIS, and theresults were immediate Nothing,
no match.
Larson assumed that that wasthe end of it.
He and many other cops thoughtthe state computer system tied
(24:31):
into the Fed's national database.
But he asked Smith if there wasmore they could do and Smith
said yeah, there might besomething else, though it wasn't
standard operating procedureyet.
So the AFIS system in Michiganonly tied into Michigan cases
(24:54):
and perps.
The Michigan system had comeonline in 1989, the Michigan
system had come online in 1989,and no cases were entered after
that as time permitted,no-transcript.
(25:22):
So a new AFIS system wassupposed to allow the State
Department databases tointerface with the FBI's.
But the system was behindschedule and not online yet.
But perhaps the FBI's AFISsystem was able to make the
connection in reverse, so gofrom the federal to state
(25:45):
databases.
So he told Larson he would callthe feds, see what they could
do.
It was a long shot and thatsame day Smith called the FBI
headquarters, asked them how togo about trying to get a match
on a print he had on an old case.
The feds did have a morepowerful computerized system for
(26:07):
matching prints with of coursea more powerful acronym, iafis,
the I standing for integrated.
So he was told to drop hisprint in the mail On September
4th.
The print arrived at the FBI,was routed to Heather Kron, who
had been a forensics examiner inthe latent print division of
(26:28):
the FBI crime lab in WashingtonDC for three years.
Her job was to classify,compare and identify inked and
latent fingerprints.
Ink prints are those taken bypolice of suspects rolling the
fingertips in ink, rolling thefingers on a card.
(26:49):
Latent prints are those left ata scene from the oils on a
finger, usually invisible to thenaked eye, but which become
visible by the use of lasers,chemicals or fingerprint powder.
There were other requests aheadof Smith, but she wouldn't be
able to get to it soon, so shesent a letter to Smith
(27:12):
acknowledging receipt of theprints and a quick response If
everything went well.
She hoped to have an answer oneway or another by mid-September
.
Everything did not go well.
Everything went to hell OnSeptember 11, as we know, a
bunch of hijackers startedcrashing planes into the World
(27:33):
Trade Center, the Pentagon and afield in Pennsylvania.
As 9-11 took on new meaning,suddenly a 15-year-old murder
case in Flint was about as faroff the beleaguered FBI's radar
screen as it could be.
Nope, and that's not quite true, because the subsequent anthrax
, mailings, murders and frenzypushed the Flint court case even
(27:57):
further from the radar screenand Krohn would be kept busy on
more pressing matters for months, for the rest of 2001 and into
2002.
Starting to run out of leadsand not wanting to leave any
stone unturned, on October 17,larson wrote to the producers of
Unsolved Mysteries asking themto produce a show profiling the
(28:20):
Abbey and Ludwig murders.
On January 24, 2002, Krohncalled Galvin Smith to say his
prints were about to go back onher front burner.
Early in February Krohn pickedup the envelope she first
glanced at.
Five months earlier she tookthe negative of a partial
(28:43):
fingerprint to the lab'sphotographic unit and had it
photographed.
It was a small partial, abouthalf an inch by half an inch of
the upper left quadrant of theright thumb.
It showed a right slant looppattern.
When the new photo came back toher, she scanned it into the
IAFIS system.
Though casual fans of TV crimedramas and even many police
(29:07):
across the country think thefeds had all-knowing
fingerprints capabilities, thepartial print she scanned in
would have been fruitless asrecently as 1999.
The AFIS system that had justcome online when Abby was killed
in 1986 would not have beenable to make a match of such a
(29:27):
partial print.
You would have needed an entire, pristine impression of a
fingerprint to make anidentification possible.
Iafis works by searching itsdatabase and returning a top 20
list of possible matches basedon reference points to the
printer in question.
(29:48):
The examiner, in this caseKrohn, then pulls the cards and
visually starts eliminatingsuspects.
By the time Kroone was done,one name remained On February
6th, cronko Smith, with the newsshe had a match to a guy who
had been convicted of assaultinga woman in Orlando, florida, in
(30:10):
the early 1980s and spentnearly two years in prison in
northern Florida at theLancaster Correctional
Institution.
His name was Jeffrey WayneGordon.
He was still alive, age 39, andguess what?
He was living in Michigan onTuscola Road in the Flint suburb
(30:32):
of Vienna.
Smith called Larson, pretendingto be as cool as a cucumber,
and he said I didn't want tooverly excite him, but he was
calm, understated, playing thething for the drama he knew he
would bring.
And Larson even said that itwas one of those days that he
(30:54):
would always remember where youwere, or where you were with
Larson, who was working on anafternoon shift that day, having
driven over to Grand Rapidswith his wife that morning to
pick up his three-year-oldgrandson Griffin, whose parents
were heading to Vegas onvacation.
Whose parents were heading toVegas on vacation.
(31:20):
Larsen was at the Flint PD withhow to settle in the basement
office that the task force hadexpanded into.
And then the phone rang and itwas Smith, and Smith said we got
(31:42):
the results of that partialprint back from the FBI.
Larson could hear defeat in hisvoice.
He said oh God, it's anotherdead end.
And Smith said that he was veryecstatic.
It was a big, big, big case andwe have no one to tie it to
these kinds of cases you dreamof in Boston.
(32:03):
So Larson said, and Because hethought well, the worst is
coming, he said we got a match.
Give me a pencil, I'll give youa name.
And then he gave him JeffreyWayne Gorton's name, his date of
birth, his current address,just a few miles up, 475 from
downtown Flint, and Larson'sheart started to raise.
(32:27):
It was like, according to him,the God of policemen, reaching
his hand down and saying youhave worked long and hard.
I'm going to give you a hand.
Enough is enough Of all thethousands of names they have
seen and entered into computers,cross-indexed and swapped and
(32:47):
cleared.
It was the first time they haveseen or heard of Gordon.
Kilbourne was out on aninterview and was due back at
the Flint State Police post soonand Larson couldn't wait to get
there and tell him.
So on the short drive over,larson called him on the car
radio twice without an answer.
So he pulled into his spot nearthe door to the post, ran
(33:09):
inside and there was Kilbournewalking down the hall and he
said come on in here, I got somereal good news for you.
And so he led him into a smalloffice and closed the door.
Soon they were both zooming onnearly overdose level rushes of
adrenaline.
A good thing too, because theyhave worked 35 of the next 44
(33:31):
hours.
And on february hours and onFebruary 7, kron mailed out her
official findings to Smith.
It was FBI number 54834CA3,case number 95A-HQ-1347984, lab
(33:53):
number 610904028MX and in theCommon Understated Language of
Crime Technicians wrote onelatent fingerprint appearing in
Q2, a negative source notindicated has been identified as
a fingerprint of Jeffrey WayneGordon.
(34:16):
Gordon has been released fromprison in Florida on December 24
, 1985, after serving less thantwo years of his
four-and-a-half-year sentence.
On October 9, 1984, prisonpsychologist HV Bartlett had
reported that Gordon wasattending group therapy up to
three times a week and that hewas eagerly sought help and had
(34:39):
been the most productivecontributor to the group and I
believed quote in the inmateupon who I would be willing to
wager for the future.
End quote.
Yet on April 10, 1985, gordonwas placed in administrative
confinement for improper contactwith a staff member.
He admitted trying repeatedlyto touch the employee, including
(35:03):
reaching out with his toes totry to arrange the employee's
clothing, and said he felt hewas losing control of his
emotions.
Nonetheless, prison authoritiesdecided to release Gordon eight
months later.
It was a Christmas present forhim and for the extended Gordon
clan back home.
But had the Christmas carolsGordon heard on the 25th been a
(35:24):
death knell for Margaret Ebby?
Who knows?
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Let's go back to April 1983.
We're going to look at exactlyApril 29th and this is going to
(35:52):
be something that happened inOrlando, florida.
Marie Gagliano got out and asshe and this is going to be
something that happened inOrlando, florida Marie Gagliano
got out and as she walked behindher car she noticed off to the
right a man heading for her.
You know her way.
She immediately thought guywalking his dog.
She turned to face the rear ofthe car, put in the key, opened
(36:15):
the hatchback and lifted thebrown bag, and as she did, her
subconscious mind flashed awarning.
She wouldn't necessarily haveseen a dog, given the car sent a
lot, but something about theway the man was walking meant no
dog.
A jolt of fear hit her and asshe straightened up the back,
still in her arms, she turned toher left.
(36:36):
By then, given his rate ofspeed, he would have been past
her Ten yards, twenty yards,somewhere to her left and
receding.
But the man wasn't walking andhe wasn't past her.
He was standing right there,his face filling her vision, a
foot from hers.
In a slasher movie it wouldhave been one of those moments
(36:59):
where the audience jumped.
A tight shot of a woman in acar.
Woman turns man's head, enters,shot from left.
Audience gasp in mass.
Marie screamed as the manreached down, lifted her skirt,
grabbed her lower legs andflipped her over backwards.
She landed on her left wristand butt groceries flying
(37:22):
through the air and scatteringacross the pavement.
He grabbed her ankles andlifted and she went flat on her
back.
She screamed one long screamand he held her tightly by each
ankle and dragged her toward thenearby dumpster.
The boogeyman never made itwith her to the dumpster.
(37:43):
She screamed so loudly in thenot-so-dark parking lot that the
boogeyman went to plan B.
After dragging her for 10 or 15yards he let go of her legs,
reach out or I should say reachup, grab her, slip, rip it off
(38:06):
and ran to his car.
As she lay there, people startedcoming to their windows,
hollering out to ask about whatwas going on.
If she was okay, his carsquirreled out of the parking
lot.
Two of the faces at the windowabove her were friends, a rare
husband and wife couple in thesingles complex.
They came down, helped hergather her groceries and monitor
(38:29):
her condition.
Nothing broken.
The baby of heavy bracelets onher left arm, odented in having
taken the brunt of her fall.
Her right elbow was cut andbleeding, but not badly enough
for stitches.
Her skirt was ripped.
The right cheek of her butt,where she landed on, hurt like a
(38:49):
hell.
It would later swell up like agrapefruit.
Back in the apartment shecouldn't stop shaking.
What if she had not worn a slip?
She usually didn't.
What if he hadn't been able toget an easy trophy?
The cops arrived just 10minutes after her neighbors
called them and took a report.
(39:10):
She told them he struck me as aclean cut, a Joe College type
nice slacks, a polo shirt, brown.
They asked if she neededmedical attention and left when
she said no.
A few days later two detectivesstopped by Bourdain's to see
her.
They had a composite sketchsketch.
(39:32):
Another woman, betty CQ Dixon,had been attacked in broad
daylight the day after GaleanoSame MO.
She was reaching into herbackseat of her car at her
apartment complex when she wasattacked from behind, knocked to
the ground and hit and kick,while the man pulled on her
(39:53):
half-slip, eventually ripping itoff.
He got away but this woman hadclearly seen his face and had
helped with a composite sketch.
After she had ID'd his car aBuick Regal, gagliano said it
looked like her assailant.
One other thing there would beanother assault that they were
linking to this guy would beanother assault that they were
(40:15):
linking to this guy there was awoman named Gita Fisher who also
worked at Bourdain's and hadbeen grabbed in the store
parking lot on April 8th.
On Friday night, may 6th, twofemale Navy recruits were
walking on the grounds of theNaval Training Center.
A male came up behind them,dropped to his knees, reached up
under one of his recruits'skirts and ripped off her slip.
(40:37):
Both women started fightingwith him.
They could hear his dog tagsclanging so they knew he was in
the military.
Meanwhile two patrolling basepolice cars had seen the
commotion and when the man ranto his car and drove off, they
pursued him.
Unfortunately the two policecars collided with each other
and the assailant got away.
(40:58):
The guy the Navy police lostwas, it was thought, the guy
responsible for a one-man crimespree of perversion and assault.
In addition to his most recentincident, there had been
numerous reports on the base ofsome guy running up to women
pulling off their panties asthey stood at phone booths or on
(41:18):
street corners.
The neighbor investigativeservice was hot on his trail and
there have been numerousstories on TV and radio reports
of the various incidents.
On May 18, police called a break.
Earl Demond, the manager of asmall 40-trailer Conway Shores
mobile home park in Orlando, notfar from Marie Galliano's
(41:42):
apartment complex, afraid animpending rainstorm would cause
a leak, had gotten to one of thetrailers to fix a window in
need of repair.
The trailer stood on lot 18where a young family lived,
jeffrey Gorton, 20, his18-year-old wife Dawn and the
little baby Jeff Jr.
Dawn was out of town at thetime, having caught a cheap
(42:05):
military flight back to Michiganto visit her folks.
They have seemed like nice kidsat first, not your cliche of
trailer tenants.
Gordon was in the Navy,stationed in the Orlando Naval
Training Center, studyinghigh-tech stuff at the nuclear
power school.
Sharp guy going places, butsomething about him rubbed Damon
(42:26):
the wrong way.
They even had a confrontationrecently when the manager asked
him about a missing canoe.
The sailor denied anyinvolvement.
Demon wasn't so sure and latelysome residents had begun to
complain that the young manseemed to be prowling around and
was giving them the creeps.
Others had complained that someof their underwear had gone
(42:50):
missing off clothesline.
Anyway, demon goes in thetrailer and what does he see in
one of the bedrooms?
He would tell police later thatit was two grocery bags filled
with panties, bras and pantyhose.
He pulled some out, couldreadily tell that they would
(43:10):
never fit Don.
Among the first things that hesaw to his shock were some of
his young daughter's underwear.
Not that the tail neededembellishing, but Demon would
later seem to embellish itInstead of finding them in
grocery bags.
He was caught as telling anOrlando reporter.
(43:31):
It was spread out on the bedlike he had been counting and
organizing it.
There were panties, bras andother things all laid out neatly
.
Demon called the Orange CountySheriff's Department and alarms
went off when he told themGordon drove a Buick Regal.
The Navy then gave Orlandopolice a photo of Gordon as well
(43:53):
as photos of othersimilar-looking naval personnel
to be used in a photo lineup.
Gordon as well as photos ofother similar-looking naval
personnel to be used in a photolineup for the assault victims.
The photo of Gordon was of poorquality and neither Gagliano,
dixon or Fisher could identifyhim as their attacker.
On May 23rd, orlando policevisited the trailer park to
(44:13):
interview Gordon.
He had been evicted by Demon inthe meantime and left no
forwarding address, so they wentto look for him at the base.
That same day Don had workedthe midnight shift at Taco Bell.
They had found a nice apartmentbut it was out of the price
range, so she had taken apart-time job to help make ends
(44:35):
meet.
Jeff was supposed to pick herup at 5 am but never showed.
She called home and got noanswer.
She walked up to the corner ofmy home finding Jeff gone and
their infant son locked in acloset.
A little while later Jeffwalked in.
He said he had been out for amorning run, which seemed odd
(44:56):
since he had never done anyrunning or been involved in any
physical exercise as far as sheknew.
He changed into his uniform andleft for work.
There Orlando police, incooperation with Navy
investigators, pulled him in forquestioning.
He first asked for an attorney,then waived his rights, said he
had some psychological problemsand admitted to assaulting
(45:19):
Gagliano and Dixon.
When asked about the assault onGagliano, gorton said quote, I
think I saw her at Albertson's.
I stopped there to getsomething to eat end quote.
And so they asked him did youthink she was attractive and
decided to follow her from thatpoint or what?
(45:41):
And he said no, I just sheprobably was just bending over
or something.
I could tell she had a slip on.
Then something came over me.
I probably, decided.
He said he followed her to herapartment complex.
Then he said quote, I just walkup behind her and grab her slip
(46:03):
.
End quote.
He was hazy on detailsexplaining.
And then he said the next thingquote.
I don't pay enough attention tothings I do to keep it in my
memory.
I guess, end quote Gordonagreed to let police search his
(46:24):
new apartment there.
He went into the attic and cameout with a cardboard box filled
with undergarments and one pairof women's shoes.
Don was sitting there when Jeffand the Navy police walked in.
Though Orlando police reportsdon't mention it, dunn would say
that police also took out alarge military duffel so stuffed
with women's clothes.
It couldn't be zipped.
(46:44):
Jeff left under arrest and wasarraigned the next day in Orange
County Circuit Court.
Included in the haul were ablack slip taken from Dixon, a
beige slip taken from Galeano, agreen slip that had belonged to
Mrs Demon Soon.
Detectives were back at theBourdines showing Marie Jeff's
(47:04):
arrest photos.
It was definitely the same guywho attacked her.
They told her they would be intouch regarding any court
proceedings.
Seeing the photos brought backfresh memories of him.
She lasted out her shift barelyholding it together inside,
trying to sell cosmetics as ifnothing were wrong.
At least he was behind bars.
(47:26):
A week, maybe 10 days later,marie was back in the same
Arbison's near her apartmentdoing some light shopping,
waiting in line.
She glanced over at the linenext to her and there he was,
her attacker, standing with ayoung woman who was holding a
baby.
She was young 18, and lookedyounger.
(47:47):
And Galeano said, quote.
My first inclination was to runup to him and scream at him,
but fear took over.
Then I wanted to say to herwhat's your problem being with
this guy?
But I saw the baby.
It was real young and I feltbad, end quote.
So she ran with her groceriesto her car because she freaked
(48:10):
out.
She raced home and called thepolice to tell him that Jeff had
gotten out somehow, and theyknew, of course.
He posted a $2,500 bond on May26th and was released.
Jeff's grandparents lived innearby Leesburg and Don had
borrowed the money from them.
(48:30):
And she starts screaming on thephone he's out on bond.
Couldn't you at least have toldme he was just at my grocery
store?
He lives in my neighborhood,and so the cop told her.
Couldn't you at least have toldme he was just at my grocery
store, he lives in myneighborhood, and so the cop
told her.
Well, you didn't hear me saythis, but get a gun and if he
(48:51):
bothers you again, do us all afavor.
It would have been a favor fora 26-year-old woman named
Christy Walker While out on bond.
On September 16, gorton willstrike again.
It was the same day the Navygave him a less than honorable
discharge, though it's hard toimagine what you would have to
(49:11):
do to get a dishonorabledischarge if knocking down Navy
women and ripping off theirslits isn't enough.
About 11 pm, walker was sittingin her ground floor apartment
in Orlando when she heard herfront room curtains rustling.
She looked over and saw a whiteman reaching through the window
.
She screamed and the arm pulledback.
(49:32):
Police found that the screenhad been pried out of its frame.
They also found prints whichwere quickly matched to Jeff.
His bond was revoked and he wascharged with breaking and
entering.
This time Don borrowed $5,000from Jeff's parents for bond,
getting the money via WesternUnion.
(49:52):
But instead of getting Jeff outof jail, she used some of the
money to hire United Van Linesto move her things back to
Michigan.
When she got back she returnedthe rest of the money to the
Gordons.
Marie slipped into a deepdepression in the weeks and
months after her assault, agradual slide that she didn't
(50:13):
notice but her roommate, friendsand co-workers did.
She could still go to work andfunction normally and that she
did her shopping, banking, billpaying and the like.
But if it wasn't doing choresor at work.
She found it impossible toleave the apartment.
(50:33):
She was afraid to go outbecause she was worried or
afraid that someone would follow.
Her Nights were not so bad,only the occasional nightmare.
On Saturday afternoon she got acall.
It was her roommate's boss,robert Greenberg, who ran the
jewelry department and a catalogshowroom.
Marie had met Greenberg before.
He had a reputation as a niceguy, a great boss.
(50:57):
He was always having cookoutsfor his employees, an avid
fisherman.
If he caught a mess of fish hewould call folks up and invite
them over to his apartment orLake Frederica, a nice one with
a big pool, for a fresh fry.
Dunn had told him that she wasworried about Marie and he had
told her that he would try towork some charm on her.
(51:19):
But he kept the reason forcalling a secret and he told her
hey, come on over, I'm havingsome friends over to go swimming
.
And she said, no, thanks anyway, but I'm going to just hang
around the apartment.
So he said, okay, then I'mcoming over to get you.
You don't have any choice, I'llbe there in 20 minutes.
(51:40):
They now describe that swim astheir first date.
But as first dates go, it wasunusual to say the least.
Trying to engage her in somehorseplay in the pool, greenberg
splashed her, she splashed backa good sign.
He splashed harder, shesplashed harder, he grabbed her
and started twirling her aroundin the water and she hit her
(52:04):
foot on the side of the pool andbroke her little toe.
Surprisingly enough, the firstdate led to a second and a third
.
Though she was at least gettingout of the apartment, had taken
up taekwondo, was interactingwith people, she was still and
told Green Bird about her fearsand he said well, my uncle in
(52:27):
Georgia has got some clay pits.
That's where we all learned toshoot when we were kids.
Come up with me and I'll teachyou to shoot.
So they took some vacation daysand went up to his uncle's
(52:59):
place near Jessa, not far fromSavannah, out in pine forests
and swamps, crocodiles in thewater.
All I had to do this is hertalking was pretend the target
was that guy and I hit it everytime.
My God, bob, you got a regular.
Annie Oakley there, said heruncle, his uncle.
And back from Jessup, sheattended Gordon's trial, which
(53:21):
ended up as a plea bargain, andshe says I had my eyes fixed on
him but he wouldn't look at me.
Several serious charges,including assault, were knocked
down to two counts each ofrobbery and one of burglary.
Gordon gave the judge thisadulterated crap to Marie's
(53:43):
thinking about his remorse, hell, he ended up sounding like the
damn victim.
He had compulsions, he neededhelp, fighting.
If only someone would help him.
And he said I know I didsomething wrong and I want to
get help.
I know I did something wrongand I want to get help.
(54:06):
I just hope I can have a chanceto prove that I can.
So at sentencing on February of1984, the judge gave him the
statutory maximum of four and ahalf years.
Marie was livid that someone soobviously unbalanced and
dangerous, who could do what hedid to her and all those others
who could fill her with the fearthat she had been battling ever
(54:27):
since, would get off so lightly.
Marie and Bob were married ayear later and a year later that
Gordon was parole.
In 1992, marie and Bob moved toJessup and bought 20 acres out
in the country.
Marie had planted 1,387 slashpine trees, a hybrid, hardy,
(54:51):
fast grower favored by thelogging industry.
Just to say, he helped out.
Bob planted one.
It was her project, maybe alingering bit of therapy.
You know she figures.
Today Bob is retired from thejewelry business but works part
time in a friend's store in townwhere it doesn't interfere with
(55:15):
his hunting and fishing.
Marie never got tired ofshooting off of guns.
She works at the nearby Walmartselling guns and ammo and when
the armadillos get tooverrunning the property she
picks up the loaded .22 that shekeeps handy and goes out in the
(55:35):
clearing in front of theirhouse and, surrounded by already
towering slash trees, picksthose armadillos off one by one.
If she's out there shooting andbops off fishing, a caller gets
(55:56):
a message that says quote we'reprobably out fighting
mosquitoes or shootingarmadillos.
End quote Leave a message atthe tone.
And there were a very happyending in the boogeyman's
odyssey.
She was the one who got away.
Thank you for listening to themurder book.
(56:18):
Have a great week.
Welcome to the Murder Book.
I'm your host, kiara, and thisis part 10 of Jeffrey Gordon's
Deadly Secret.
Let's begin.
When Barna got word of thecase-to-case hit, he tracked
Helton down to say they havebeen a breakthrough, that they
(00:21):
were on track of a serial killerkiller and that she needed to
meet with Kilbourne ASAP.
So he would need to know thingslike what evidence did they
have stored?
What kind of samples were stillviable?
What was the scene like?
Barna found her on vacation inthe small Upper Peninsula town
(00:43):
of Garden.
He reached her through thelandline number and she agreed
to come to a meeting at theFlint Post as soon as she was
back in a couple of days At theFlint meeting.
From what Cahum said, quote Ihave inklings or tibbets that
then would not be in the loop.
End quote she was and is a bigfan of Snyder's, having worked
(01:12):
several bad scenes with him, andshe would say that you would
never find another morededicated individual like Dan,
never, never.
What you see is what you get.
He's sincere, he's sincere,he's genuine, easily one of the
finest detectives I have everworked with.
If this had to happen to Nancythen thank God it happened in a
(01:34):
place where there will besomeone like Dan, and those were
, you know, very meaningfulwords.
Now none of her cases ever hitHton the way the Ludwig case did
.
Nothing pumped her up more thanfinding that they would make a
breakthrough on it and nothingirritated her more than finding
(01:57):
out that politics were going tokeep the one guy off the case
who absolutely had to be there,not one to normally have an
agenda.
After the first meeting withKilbourne she says quote my only
goal was to get Dan backinvolved.
He was the investigationembodied.
(02:18):
He had every detail becausemore physically and mentally
organized.
You could ask him any questionabout any aspect of the case and
he could respond he was theinvestigation end, quote.
Her second meeting on the casewas with Larson, kilbourne and
(02:39):
Early at the Northville CrimeLab.
Early again said he and Romuluswere swamped and that maybe it
would be best if they justturned the case and the Renew
investigation over to theMichigan State Police and tips
that came into Romulus how aboutthey just forward them on?
Early also told them he hadbrought himself up to speed by
(03:04):
reading the file.
But Helton was dubious.
She thought there's no way youcan learn what you need to know
by reading from a file.
She would try to be fair, givehim a chance.
But almost from the start itwas apparent to her that Dave
Early didn't know a hill ofbeans about this case and she
(03:25):
said quote, I would tell himthings about the case.
He didn't know a hill of beansabout this case.
And she said quote, I wouldtell him things about the case
he didn't know.
I was appalled.
It was a disaster.
End quote.
It was about to get worse.
Hilton finished her line ofconversation at some point and
Early chimed in with his theoryof events in the Hilton hotel
(03:45):
room.
It was his considered opinionthat the killer had in fact
killed Ludwig by hanging herover the curtain rod in the
bathroom.
When he said this, there wasthis heavy silence.
Hilton looked at him as if hehad a twitching rat's tail
sticking out between his closedlips and Hilton said quote.
(04:08):
I was stunned.
I thought that's the stupidestthing I ever heard.
This guy has no investigativeskills at all.
He got no experience with crimescenes.
It's a mindless comment fromdumb bureaucrat.
End quote.
She didn't show anger.
(04:30):
Her skills honed by years ofprecise testimony at trial.
She went point by point througha demolition of Early's theory.
And she told him out flat ofEarly's theory.
And she told him out flat thereis no way, no way.
(04:50):
They would have been entirelydifferent bloodstain patterns at
the scene.
She was quiet and professional.
She laid out the factualinformation why the evidence was
clear.
It didn't take long to slamdunk him and put the kibosh on
that whole harebrained theory.
Now, after that, the meetingsoon ended, early didn't try to
(05:15):
contribute anything else as soonas he left.
Helton says, quote I had ahissy fit to get Dan involved.
Early pissed me off.
It was stupid politics and noone was going to use politics to
cause this case to keep beingfrom self.
End quote.
(05:35):
She told Kilbourne she was notgoing to stand for it, that it
was unconscionable for him toconduct an investigation without
going to the source.
And the source was Dan Snyder.
And she said, quote I wasstanding in for the victim and I
(05:56):
was not going to stand for this.
I was fit to be tied.
It was shameful.
Was Romulus at all interestedin Nancy's interests?
Absolutely not.
It was shameful and almostanother violation of the victim.
(06:18):
End quote.
Things are hazy at this point,the team guy Kilburn not wanting
to claim credit for callingKirby early and laying out what
had to be done.
Somehow the message wasdelivered, though.
By the end of August Early wasoff the case.
Snyder was back on.
Romulus was not going to turnover responsibility for the
(06:38):
renewal investigation to thestate police.
Snyder would be part of thetask force.
He was going to work this thingas hard as he had 10 years
earlier In November, a Romuluspolice patrolman named Al
Lambert with a long history inlocal politics.
In addition to being a cop, overthe years he had also been a
(07:00):
city councilman and a member ofthe school board and a direct
descendant of the old boynetwork that had long run.
The city won the election formayor.
Lambert reportedly didn't likeEarly.
Early was out of the DB andback in uniform.
On December 1st Snyder wasnamed to head up the DB and
(07:23):
promoted to executive lieutenant.
Snyder pulled Melianak out ofhis patrol car and out of
uniform and put him back in thedetective bureau again.
Melianak was assigned to thetask force too.
We'll be right back.
Things happen sometimes, andMelianak knew that We'll be
(07:45):
right back.
Things happen sometimes, andMelianak knew that you make
mistakes.
But the more he thought aboutit, the more it took him off
that Dave King had blown him offso readily more than 10 years
earlier when he had called tofollow up on Mark Eby's tip that
the two murders seemed related.
Up on Mark Eby's tip that thetwo murders seemed related,
(08:07):
melianak had a blood type but itdidn't match Stone's and so the
cases were unrelated accordingto King.
And Melianak had filed Eby'stip away as just another of many
that were dead ends.
And Melianak says, end quoteout of all the tips you work you
hope you don't screw somethingup or miss something.
(08:27):
I was happier than hell to getthe cases linked but I will
always wish I would have takenthe extra step in 1991.
I never went to Flint, I neverinterviewed King directly.
In hindsight I wish I wouldhave worked it harder.
I don't know If I would havehad the experience I have now.
(08:52):
I would like to think Iwouldn't just have taken his
word for it, but he was so sure,end quote.
In 1991, melianak was a youngand experienced homicide
detective in a small town.
King was the Redmond Big Citydetective.
Sometime shortly after CODISlinked the two cases, snyder ran
(09:15):
into King at a policeconvention and they exchanged
introductions.
King was still sure Stone wasthe murderer.
When Snyder said somethingabout the two cases being linked
, after all, making that pointhaving been the reason he would
have wanted to meet him, kingreplied how do you know?
(09:35):
Stone didn't do it and hisanswer was because he got the
wrong DNA.
He got the wrong DNA and Kingthen said well, you know he had
a dog, don't you?
Referring to a dog Stone hadalways traveled with and who
accompanied him to Flint for his1986 visit.
(09:55):
And Snyder?
He just looked at King stunned,taking a moment to digest the
implication.
Taking a moment to digest theimplication.
What was he saying?
That Stone took semen from hisdog and put it into Margaret
Ebby's vagina when he killed herand five years later took more
of the dog's semen and put it inNancy Ludwig's vagina.
(10:17):
Yeah, that's what he was saying.
So Snyder said quote.
At that point I knew there wasnothing I could say and end
quote.
It's an exchange that Kingacknowledges when he says quote.
I still held out the chance wehave been manipulated by Stone,
(10:40):
because he was such a strangefellow and because of his
knowledge In my mind I wonder ifit was something from an animal
.
He was that bizarre end quote.
Now, this is the thing.
Dna told them that the Ebby andLudwig cases were linked.
(11:01):
So too did the crime scenephotos.
Kilbourne had fixed the photosin his memory, not that you
could forget them, having seenthem.
As soon as he saw the Ludwigphotos, it was clear the same
killer had committed both crimes.
The photos were almost likeduplicate prints the slash
(11:26):
throat, the torture marks, thebody rolled over on its stomach.
The first thing Kilburn did inAugust after filing in Romulus
on the Ebi link, was to take thephotos and all the boxes of
information Snyder and Mellinachad amassed back to Flint.
(11:48):
He, larson, corona and Diggsthen went through it all.
They started going through thetips, setting up a computer
program and ranking the tipsaccording to several parameters.
Tips according to severalparameters.
And Kilburn says in quote wecould tell they have done an
(12:09):
excellent job on their tipsheets and follow-ups.
I could tell they have spent atremendous amount of time.
End quote.
Kilburn says Snyder and Malianaklater, when he joined the task
force, fit right in.
They could have groused aboutan outside agency and in fact
(12:30):
critiquing their old work.
They certainly could havegroused when asked to help go
back through 2,300 tips thatthey have already cleared.
But they were terrific clear,but they were terrific.
And he says I got totalcooperation from those two guys.
I knew Dan knew his case.
(12:51):
We were there to learn fromthem and get information out of
them.
This is what Kilbourne issaying.
So they quickly win.
We know the 2,300 down to 100.
And that was the easy part.
And Larson later says, quoteyou should see some of the crap
people had called in Scornedwomen, nutcases, angry next door
(13:17):
neighbors ticked off over longgrass or broken fences.
The best 100 they looked at indetail, eliminated them one by
one.
The task force also beganinterviewing principals and
witnesses in the Ebi case,trying to find a tie to someone
(13:39):
in Romulus or the Detroit era.
It was always part of thephilosophy of the task force
that new or improvedtechnologies would help solve
cases once thought to be as deadas the victims.
Now with a DNA link fromestablished between two such
(14:03):
prominent murders, it was timeto work technology hard.
The Flynn PD didn't think theyhave civil logical evidence.
Romulus had plenty of it andmore than 10 years of
technological advances sincethey have gathered it to support
their investigation.
Many subjects and would-besuspects had been cleared by
(14:26):
saliva or blood tests in Romulus.
When they came across the namesin the Romulus case they had
not been given saliva or bloodtests at that time.
They visited them armed withswabs.
(14:46):
More important, it was pasttime to definitely clear people
in Flint.
So Larson says, quote we wentto every male acquaintance of
Ebby's in every shape or formand asked for DNA swabs of Ebbes
in every shape or form.
And asked for DNA swabs.
Larson or another state copwould vigorously rub the swab
(15:09):
against the lining of the cheek.
Later the collective tissuewould go to the crime lab in
Lansing for a DNA probe.
Former lovers had been reluctantto talk when the case was new.
Fifteen years later they werenot happy especially the ones
(15:37):
who had been married and havingan affair with Ebi to see police
back at their door dredging uptheir sexual past, and this time
with swaps in hand.
Nearly everyone cooperated andthose who did were cleared.
Kilbride and Larson flew toMilwaukee to swap one of Abby's
(15:58):
former lovers, soon.
The feeling was that Kaylawasn't someone she was intimate
with.
They took swaps of family andfriends, of co-workers at UM
Flint, of my employees.
They tracked down WilliamReneker, the organist at Ebby's
Church, who had been at thedinner party with her.
(16:19):
That night she was killed atthe Cypress Retirement Home in
Charlotte, north Carolina.
That night she was killed atthe Cypress Retirement Home in
Charlotte, north Carolina, andhad the Charlotte-Merkenberg
Police Department swap him atthe old folks' home in August 15
, 2001.
(16:41):
That's the same day they wentpublic with information that the
Abbey and Ludwig cases werelinked.
They had wanted to sit on itwhile keeping a secret from the
killer, but news had leaked outof the Romulus PD.
Channel 4 in Detroit had calledthe Flint Journal asking a
(17:02):
reporter there, and so that sameday they went public with
information that the Evick andLubbock cases were linked.
(17:25):
They had wanted to sit on itfor a while to keep it a secret
from the killer.
The news, of course, had leakedout of the Romulus PD.
Channel 4 in Detroit had calledthe Flint Journal asking a
reporter there.
What he knew.
The reporter called the FlintPD and at 4.30 pm Chief
Barksdale held a pressconference and announced that
(17:47):
DNA tests had linked the twounsolved murders.
They were back in the headlinesand a tip line was set up and
the tips poured in.
Police swapped Jonathan Ebby inAugust and he too was cleared.
He also told them how angry hewas to find out the cases were
linked, something he hadsuspected and tried to alert
(18:09):
police.
In the days after Lowick waskilled, police compiled a list
of hundreds of horticulturalstudents from Michigan State who
had worked at the estate duringthe summer.
Over a period of several monthsabout 130 swabs were taken and
130 persons cleared, includingone would-be suspect that
(18:33):
tracked down in the PinellasCounty, german, florida.
Hal Settle, who was pulled offthe prostitute case, and Charles
Diggs, travel the state givingbuckle swaps to former Flint
residents who had moved.
(18:54):
Other police agencies inFlorida, pennsylvania, wisconsin
, texas, ohio, mississippi andWashington visited people from
the too-clear list who live intheir states and swapped them.
If they couldn't get approvalsthey resorted to other means to
(19:16):
gather DNA.
On August 18, they got the okayfrom the owners of the Heritage
Food and Spirits restaurant innearby Fenton to take an empty
bottle of Killian's Irish Redbeer, water, glass, napkin,
dinner plate and utensils theywatched a suspect use.
On August 31st the lab reportedthat the DNA had cleared on him
(19:39):
.
The task force also beganworking through the population
of people the Flint PD hadoverlooked contractors and some
contractors.
Mott has the most unbelievablerecords that everybody can have
seen.
The police found meticulousrecords of who was on the estate
(20:03):
doing what at what time of day,and he says, quote we wanted to
know what kind of contractorsmight have been affiliated with
the Mudd estate that might havegiven them access to the
gatehouse.
They came up with the names of32 contractors who had done work
(20:25):
at the estate in 1985 and 1986,including landscapers,
electricians, architects,insulation companies, pavers,
asphalt groups, excavators,painters and a lawn sprinkler
(20:46):
company.
They even swapped a formerjournalism student at Wayne
State University whose professor, ben Burns, had assigned the
case to his students.
But this student continued tohang around the Romulus PD
(21:27):
asking for the case for years.
He, even after dropping out ofschool, seemed so preoccupied by
it that the police finallythought that they would better
clear him.
So they took his swap onDecember 17, 2001.
(21:48):
The task force subpoenaedrecords from UM Flynn and
compiled a list of 150 names andaddresses of Abby's former
pupils, and then they draftedletters asking if they would
submit to swabs.
They put the letters in yellowmanila envelopes, but they would
never be mailed.
(22:08):
The envelopes still sit at theMichigan State Police post in
Flint unstamped, just beforesettled could run them through
the postage meter and beforethey could finish going through
the list of employees of all thesubcontractors, they got in
(22:30):
trouble, so they got anotherdramatic break in the case.
We'll be right back Early onBorn that among the physical
bits of evidence from the Ebicrime was a color photo of a
bloody fingerprint on thebathroom faucet.
(22:55):
It was, according to Bonnet, oneof those lo and behold moments.
Nothing much had been made ofthe print at the time.
It was too much of a partialgiven the technology at the time
to be of value.
In 1986, unless you had aperfect full print, the Fed's
(23:16):
computers were useless.
The Michigan State Police wouldnot have a rudimentary computer
fingerprint ID system until1989.
And the only way you could linka partial print to a killer was
to already have a suspect inmind, take his prints and see
how they compare.
(23:36):
Even if the killer's printswere on file with the FBI, it
would have taken thousands ofman-hours to physically pull
prints out of files and visuallycompare them to the partial.
But times have changed.
That was the whole point of thetask force.
(24:08):
One of Larson's job was to workthe fingerprint angle to enter
the EB partial into an automatedfingerprint identification
system called AFIS, and theresults were immediate Nothing,
no match.
Larson assumed that that wasthe end of it.
He and many other cops thoughtthe state computer system tied
(24:31):
into the Fed's national database.
But he asked Smith if there wasmore they could do and Smith
said yeah, there might besomething else, though it wasn't
standard operating procedureyet.
So the AFIS system in Michiganonly tied into Michigan cases
(24:54):
and perps.
The Michigan system had comeonline in 1989, the Michigan
system had come online in 1989,and no cases were entered after
that as time permitted,no-transcript.
(25:22):
So a new AFIS system wassupposed to allow the State
Department databases tointerface with the FBI's.
But the system was behindschedule and not online yet.
But perhaps the FBI's AFISsystem was able to make the
connection in reverse, so gofrom the federal to state
(25:45):
databases.
So he told Larson he would callthe feds, see what they could
do.
It was a long shot and thatsame day Smith called the FBI
headquarters, asked them how togo about trying to get a match
on a print he had on an old case.
The feds did have a morepowerful computerized system for
(26:07):
matching prints with of coursea more powerful acronym, iafis,
the I standing for integrated.
So he was told to drop hisprint in the mail On September
4th.
The print arrived at the FBI,was routed to Heather Kron, who
had been a forensics examiner inthe latent print division of
(26:28):
the FBI crime lab in WashingtonDC for three years.
Her job was to classify,compare and identify inked and
latent fingerprints.
Ink prints are those taken bypolice of suspects rolling the
fingertips in ink, rolling thefingers on a card.
(26:49):
Latent prints are those left ata scene from the oils on a
finger, usually invisible to thenaked eye, but which become
visible by the use of lasers,chemicals or fingerprint powder.
There were other requests aheadof Smith, but she wouldn't be
able to get to it soon, so shesent a letter to Smith
(27:12):
acknowledging receipt of theprints and a quick response If
everything went well.
She hoped to have an answer oneway or another by mid-September
.
Everything did not go well.
Everything went to hell OnSeptember 11, as we know, a
bunch of hijackers startedcrashing planes into the World
(27:33):
Trade Center, the Pentagon and afield in Pennsylvania.
As 9-11 took on new meaning,suddenly a 15-year-old murder
case in Flint was about as faroff the beleaguered FBI's radar
screen as it could be.
Nope, and that's not quite true, because the subsequent anthrax
, mailings, murders and frenzypushed the Flint court case even
(27:57):
further from the radar screenand Krohn would be kept busy on
more pressing matters for months, for the rest of 2001 and into
2002.
Starting to run out of leadsand not wanting to leave any
stone unturned, on October 17,larson wrote to the producers of
Unsolved Mysteries asking themto produce a show profiling the
(28:20):
Abbey and Ludwig murders.
On January 24, 2002, Krohncalled Galvin Smith to say his
prints were about to go back onher front burner.
Early in February Krohn pickedup the envelope she first
glanced at.
Five months earlier she tookthe negative of a partial
(28:43):
fingerprint to the lab'sphotographic unit and had it
photographed.
It was a small partial, abouthalf an inch by half an inch of
the upper left quadrant of theright thumb.
It showed a right slant looppattern.
When the new photo came back toher, she scanned it into the
IAFIS system.
Though casual fans of TV crimedramas and even many police
(29:07):
across the country think thefeds had all-knowing
fingerprints capabilities, thepartial print she scanned in
would have been fruitless asrecently as 1999.
The AFIS system that had justcome online when Abby was killed
in 1986 would not have beenable to make a match of such a
(29:27):
partial print.
You would have needed an entire, pristine impression of a
fingerprint to make anidentification possible.
Iafis works by searching itsdatabase and returning a top 20
list of possible matches basedon reference points to the
printer in question.
(29:48):
The examiner, in this caseKrohn, then pulls the cards and
visually starts eliminatingsuspects.
By the time Kroone was done,one name remained On February
6th, cronko Smith, with the newsshe had a match to a guy who
had been convicted of assaultinga woman in Orlando, florida, in
(30:10):
the early 1980s and spentnearly two years in prison in
northern Florida at theLancaster Correctional
Institution.
His name was Jeffrey WayneGordon.
He was still alive, age 39, andguess what?
He was living in Michigan onTuscola Road in the Flint suburb
(30:32):
of Vienna.
Smith called Larson, pretendingto be as cool as a cucumber,
and he said I didn't want tooverly excite him, but he was
calm, understated, playing thething for the drama he knew he
would bring.
And Larson even said that itwas one of those days that he
(30:54):
would always remember where youwere, or where you were with
Larson, who was working on anafternoon shift that day, having
driven over to Grand Rapidswith his wife that morning to
pick up his three-year-oldgrandson Griffin, whose parents
were heading to Vegas onvacation.
Whose parents were heading toVegas on vacation.
(31:20):
Larsen was at the Flint PD withhow to settle in the basement
office that the task force hadexpanded into.
And then the phone rang and itwas Smith, and Smith said we got
(31:42):
the results of that partialprint back from the FBI.
Larson could hear defeat in hisvoice.
He said oh God, it's anotherdead end.
And Smith said that he was veryecstatic.
It was a big, big, big case andwe have no one to tie it to
these kinds of cases you dreamof in Boston.
(32:03):
So Larson said, and Because hethought well, the worst is
coming, he said we got a match.
Give me a pencil, I'll give youa name.
And then he gave him JeffreyWayne Gorton's name, his date of
birth, his current address,just a few miles up, 475 from
downtown Flint, and Larson'sheart started to raise.
(32:27):
It was like, according to him,the God of policemen, reaching
his hand down and saying youhave worked long and hard.
I'm going to give you a hand.
Enough is enough Of all thethousands of names they have
seen and entered into computers,cross-indexed and swapped and
(32:47):
cleared.
It was the first time they haveseen or heard of Gordon.
Kilbourne was out on aninterview and was due back at
the Flint State Police post soonand Larson couldn't wait to get
there and tell him.
So on the short drive over,larson called him on the car
radio twice without an answer.
So he pulled into his spot nearthe door to the post, ran
(33:09):
inside and there was Kilbournewalking down the hall and he
said come on in here, I got somereal good news for you.
And so he led him into a smalloffice and closed the door.
Soon they were both zooming onnearly overdose level rushes of
adrenaline.
A good thing too, because theyhave worked 35 of the next 44
(33:31):
hours.
And on february hours and onFebruary 7, kron mailed out her
official findings to Smith.
It was FBI number 54834CA3,case number 95A-HQ-1347984, lab
(33:53):
number 610904028MX and in theCommon Understated Language of
Crime Technicians wrote onelatent fingerprint appearing in
Q2, a negative source notindicated has been identified as
a fingerprint of Jeffrey WayneGordon.
(34:16):
Gordon has been released fromprison in Florida on December 24
, 1985, after serving less thantwo years of his
four-and-a-half-year sentence.
On October 9, 1984, prisonpsychologist HV Bartlett had
reported that Gordon wasattending group therapy up to
three times a week and that hewas eagerly sought help and had
(34:39):
been the most productivecontributor to the group and I
believed quote in the inmateupon who I would be willing to
wager for the future.
End quote.
Yet on April 10, 1985, gordonwas placed in administrative
confinement for improper contactwith a staff member.
He admitted trying repeatedlyto touch the employee, including
(35:03):
reaching out with his toes totry to arrange the employee's
clothing, and said he felt hewas losing control of his
emotions.
Nonetheless, prison authoritiesdecided to release Gordon eight
months later.
It was a Christmas present forhim and for the extended Gordon
clan back home.
But had the Christmas carolsGordon heard on the 25th been a
(35:24):
death knell for Margaret Ebby?
Who knows?
We'll be right back.
We'll be right back.
Let's go back to April 1983.
We're going to look at exactlyApril 29th and this is going to
(35:52):
be something that happened inOrlando, florida.
Marie Gagliano got out and asshe and this is going to be
something that happened inOrlando, florida Marie Gagliano
got out and as she walked behindher car she noticed off to the
right a man heading for her.
You know her way.
She immediately thought guywalking his dog.
She turned to face the rear ofthe car, put in the key, opened
(36:15):
the hatchback and lifted thebrown bag, and as she did, her
subconscious mind flashed awarning.
She wouldn't necessarily haveseen a dog, given the car sent a
lot, but something about theway the man was walking meant no
dog.
A jolt of fear hit her and asshe straightened up the back,
still in her arms, she turned toher left.
(36:36):
By then, given his rate ofspeed, he would have been past
her Ten yards, twenty yards,somewhere to her left and
receding.
But the man wasn't walking andhe wasn't past her.
He was standing right there,his face filling her vision, a
foot from hers.
In a slasher movie it wouldhave been one of those moments
(36:59):
where the audience jumped.
A tight shot of a woman in acar.
Woman turns man's head, enters,shot from left.
Audience gasp in mass.
Marie screamed as the manreached down, lifted her skirt,
grabbed her lower legs andflipped her over backwards.
She landed on her left wristand butt groceries flying
(37:22):
through the air and scatteringacross the pavement.
He grabbed her ankles andlifted and she went flat on her
back.
She screamed one long screamand he held her tightly by each
ankle and dragged her toward thenearby dumpster.
The boogeyman never made itwith her to the dumpster.
(37:43):
She screamed so loudly in thenot-so-dark parking lot that the
boogeyman went to plan B.
After dragging her for 10 or 15yards he let go of her legs,
reach out or I should say reachup, grab her, slip, rip it off
(38:06):
and ran to his car.
As she lay there, people startedcoming to their windows,
hollering out to ask about whatwas going on.
If she was okay, his carsquirreled out of the parking
lot.
Two of the faces at the windowabove her were friends, a rare
husband and wife couple in thesingles complex.
They came down, helped hergather her groceries and monitor
(38:29):
her condition.
Nothing broken.
The baby of heavy bracelets onher left arm, odented in having
taken the brunt of her fall.
Her right elbow was cut andbleeding, but not badly enough
for stitches.
Her skirt was ripped.
The right cheek of her butt,where she landed on, hurt like a
(38:49):
hell.
It would later swell up like agrapefruit.
Back in the apartment shecouldn't stop shaking.
What if she had not worn a slip?
She usually didn't.
What if he hadn't been able toget an easy trophy?
The cops arrived just 10minutes after her neighbors
called them and took a report.
(39:10):
She told them he struck me as aclean cut, a Joe College type
nice slacks, a polo shirt, brown.
They asked if she neededmedical attention and left when
she said no.
A few days later two detectivesstopped by Bourdain's to see
her.
They had a composite sketchsketch.
(39:32):
Another woman, betty CQ Dixon,had been attacked in broad
daylight the day after GaleanoSame MO.
She was reaching into herbackseat of her car at her
apartment complex when she wasattacked from behind, knocked to
the ground and hit and kick,while the man pulled on her
(39:53):
half-slip, eventually ripping itoff.
He got away but this woman hadclearly seen his face and had
helped with a composite sketch.
After she had ID'd his car aBuick Regal, gagliano said it
looked like her assailant.
One other thing there would beanother assault that they were
linking to this guy would beanother assault that they were
(40:15):
linking to this guy there was awoman named Gita Fisher who also
worked at Bourdain's and hadbeen grabbed in the store
parking lot on April 8th.
On Friday night, may 6th, twofemale Navy recruits were
walking on the grounds of theNaval Training Center.
A male came up behind them,dropped to his knees, reached up
under one of his recruits'skirts and ripped off her slip.
(40:37):
Both women started fightingwith him.
They could hear his dog tagsclanging so they knew he was in
the military.
Meanwhile two patrolling basepolice cars had seen the
commotion and when the man ranto his car and drove off, they
pursued him.
Unfortunately the two policecars collided with each other
and the assailant got away.
(40:58):
The guy the Navy police lostwas, it was thought, the guy
responsible for a one-man crimespree of perversion and assault.
In addition to his most recentincident, there had been
numerous reports on the base ofsome guy running up to women
pulling off their panties asthey stood at phone booths or on
(41:18):
street corners.
The neighbor investigativeservice was hot on his trail and
there have been numerousstories on TV and radio reports
of the various incidents.
On May 18, police called a break.
Earl Demond, the manager of asmall 40-trailer Conway Shores
mobile home park in Orlando, notfar from Marie Galliano's
(41:42):
apartment complex, afraid animpending rainstorm would cause
a leak, had gotten to one of thetrailers to fix a window in
need of repair.
The trailer stood on lot 18where a young family lived,
jeffrey Gorton, 20, his18-year-old wife Dawn and the
little baby Jeff Jr.
Dawn was out of town at thetime, having caught a cheap
(42:05):
military flight back to Michiganto visit her folks.
They have seemed like nice kidsat first, not your cliche of
trailer tenants.
Gordon was in the Navy,stationed in the Orlando Naval
Training Center, studyinghigh-tech stuff at the nuclear
power school.
Sharp guy going places, butsomething about him rubbed Damon
(42:26):
the wrong way.
They even had a confrontationrecently when the manager asked
him about a missing canoe.
The sailor denied anyinvolvement.
Demon wasn't so sure and latelysome residents had begun to
complain that the young manseemed to be prowling around and
was giving them the creeps.
Others had complained that someof their underwear had gone
(42:50):
missing off clothesline.
Anyway, demon goes in thetrailer and what does he see in
one of the bedrooms?
He would tell police later thatit was two grocery bags filled
with panties, bras and pantyhose.
He pulled some out, couldreadily tell that they would
(43:10):
never fit Don.
Among the first things that hesaw to his shock were some of
his young daughter's underwear.
Not that the tail neededembellishing, but Demon would
later seem to embellish itInstead of finding them in
grocery bags.
He was caught as telling anOrlando reporter.
(43:31):
It was spread out on the bedlike he had been counting and
organizing it.
There were panties, bras andother things all laid out neatly
.
Demon called the Orange CountySheriff's Department and alarms
went off when he told themGordon drove a Buick Regal.
The Navy then gave Orlandopolice a photo of Gordon as well
(43:53):
as photos of othersimilar-looking naval personnel
to be used in a photo lineup.
Gordon as well as photos ofother similar-looking naval
personnel to be used in a photolineup for the assault victims.
The photo of Gordon was of poorquality and neither Gagliano,
dixon or Fisher could identifyhim as their attacker.
On May 23rd, orlando policevisited the trailer park to
(44:13):
interview Gordon.
He had been evicted by Demon inthe meantime and left no
forwarding address, so they wentto look for him at the base.
That same day Don had workedthe midnight shift at Taco Bell.
They had found a nice apartmentbut it was out of the price
range, so she had taken apart-time job to help make ends
(44:35):
meet.
Jeff was supposed to pick herup at 5 am but never showed.
She called home and got noanswer.
She walked up to the corner ofmy home finding Jeff gone and
their infant son locked in acloset.
A little while later Jeffwalked in.
He said he had been out for amorning run, which seemed odd
(44:56):
since he had never done anyrunning or been involved in any
physical exercise as far as sheknew.
He changed into his uniform andleft for work.
There Orlando police, incooperation with Navy
investigators, pulled him in forquestioning.
He first asked for an attorney,then waived his rights, said he
had some psychological problemsand admitted to assaulting
(45:19):
Gagliano and Dixon.
When asked about the assault onGagliano, gorton said quote, I
think I saw her at Albertson's.
I stopped there to getsomething to eat end quote.
And so they asked him did youthink she was attractive and
decided to follow her from thatpoint or what?
(45:41):
And he said no, I just sheprobably was just bending over
or something.
I could tell she had a slip on.
Then something came over me.
I probably, decided.
He said he followed her to herapartment complex.
Then he said quote, I just walkup behind her and grab her slip
(46:03):
.
End quote.
He was hazy on detailsexplaining.
And then he said the next thingquote.
I don't pay enough attention tothings I do to keep it in my
memory.
I guess, end quote Gordonagreed to let police search his
(46:24):
new apartment there.
He went into the attic and cameout with a cardboard box filled
with undergarments and one pairof women's shoes.
Don was sitting there when Jeffand the Navy police walked in.
Though Orlando police reportsdon't mention it, dunn would say
that police also took out alarge military duffel so stuffed
with women's clothes.
It couldn't be zipped.
(46:44):
Jeff left under arrest and wasarraigned the next day in Orange
County Circuit Court.
Included in the haul were ablack slip taken from Dixon, a
beige slip taken from Galeano, agreen slip that had belonged to
Mrs Demon Soon.
Detectives were back at theBourdines showing Marie Jeff's
(47:04):
arrest photos.
It was definitely the same guywho attacked her.
They told her they would be intouch regarding any court
proceedings.
Seeing the photos brought backfresh memories of him.
She lasted out her shift barelyholding it together inside,
trying to sell cosmetics as ifnothing were wrong.
At least he was behind bars.
(47:26):
A week, maybe 10 days later,marie was back in the same
Arbison's near her apartmentdoing some light shopping,
waiting in line.
She glanced over at the linenext to her and there he was,
her attacker, standing with ayoung woman who was holding a
baby.
She was young 18, and lookedyounger.
(47:47):
And Galeano said, quote.
My first inclination was to runup to him and scream at him,
but fear took over.
Then I wanted to say to herwhat's your problem being with
this guy?
But I saw the baby.
It was real young and I feltbad, end quote.
So she ran with her groceriesto her car because she freaked
(48:10):
out.
She raced home and called thepolice to tell him that Jeff had
gotten out somehow, and theyknew, of course.
He posted a $2,500 bond on May26th and was released.
Jeff's grandparents lived innearby Leesburg and Don had
borrowed the money from them.
(48:30):
And she starts screaming on thephone he's out on bond.
Couldn't you at least have toldme he was just at my grocery
store?
He lives in my neighborhood,and so the cop told her.
Couldn't you at least have toldme he was just at my grocery
store, he lives in myneighborhood, and so the cop
told her.
Well, you didn't hear me saythis, but get a gun and if he
(48:51):
bothers you again, do us all afavor.
It would have been a favor fora 26-year-old woman named
Christy Walker While out on bond.
On September 16, gorton willstrike again.
It was the same day the Navygave him a less than honorable
discharge, though it's hard toimagine what you would have to
(49:11):
do to get a dishonorabledischarge if knocking down Navy
women and ripping off theirslits isn't enough.
About 11 pm, walker was sittingin her ground floor apartment
in Orlando when she heard herfront room curtains rustling.
She looked over and saw a whiteman reaching through the window
.
She screamed and the arm pulledback.
(49:32):
Police found that the screenhad been pried out of its frame.
They also found prints whichwere quickly matched to Jeff.
His bond was revoked and he wascharged with breaking and
entering.
This time Don borrowed $5,000from Jeff's parents for bond,
getting the money via WesternUnion.
(49:52):
But instead of getting Jeff outof jail, she used some of the
money to hire United Van Linesto move her things back to
Michigan.
When she got back she returnedthe rest of the money to the
Gordons.
Marie slipped into a deepdepression in the weeks and
months after her assault, agradual slide that she didn't
(50:13):
notice but her roommate, friendsand co-workers did.
She could still go to work andfunction normally and that she
did her shopping, banking, billpaying and the like.
But if it wasn't doing choresor at work.
She found it impossible toleave the apartment.
(50:33):
She was afraid to go outbecause she was worried or
afraid that someone would follow.
Her Nights were not so bad,only the occasional nightmare.
On Saturday afternoon she got acall.
It was her roommate's boss,robert Greenberg, who ran the
jewelry department and a catalogshowroom.
Marie had met Greenberg before.
He had a reputation as a niceguy, a great boss.
(50:57):
He was always having cookoutsfor his employees, an avid
fisherman.
If he caught a mess of fish hewould call folks up and invite
them over to his apartment orLake Frederica, a nice one with
a big pool, for a fresh fry.
Dunn had told him that she wasworried about Marie and he had
told her that he would try towork some charm on her.
(51:19):
But he kept the reason forcalling a secret and he told her
hey, come on over, I'm havingsome friends over to go swimming
.
And she said, no, thanks anyway, but I'm going to just hang
around the apartment.
So he said, okay, then I'mcoming over to get you.
You don't have any choice, I'llbe there in 20 minutes.
(51:40):
They now describe that swim astheir first date.
But as first dates go, it wasunusual to say the least.
Trying to engage her in somehorseplay in the pool, greenberg
splashed her, she splashed backa good sign.
He splashed harder, shesplashed harder, he grabbed her
and started twirling her aroundin the water and she hit her
(52:04):
foot on the side of the pool andbroke her little toe.
Surprisingly enough, the firstdate led to a second and a third
.
Though she was at least gettingout of the apartment, had taken
up taekwondo, was interactingwith people, she was still and
told Green Bird about her fearsand he said well, my uncle in
(52:27):
Georgia has got some clay pits.
That's where we all learned toshoot when we were kids.
Come up with me and I'll teachyou to shoot.
So they took some vacation daysand went up to his uncle's
(52:59):
place near Jessa, not far fromSavannah, out in pine forests
and swamps, crocodiles in thewater.
All I had to do this is hertalking was pretend the target
was that guy and I hit it everytime.
My God, bob, you got a regular.
Annie Oakley there, said heruncle, his uncle.
And back from Jessup, sheattended Gordon's trial, which
(53:21):
ended up as a plea bargain, andshe says I had my eyes fixed on
him but he wouldn't look at me.
Several serious charges,including assault, were knocked
down to two counts each ofrobbery and one of burglary.
Gordon gave the judge thisadulterated crap to Marie's
(53:43):
thinking about his remorse, hell, he ended up sounding like the
damn victim.
He had compulsions, he neededhelp, fighting.
If only someone would help him.
And he said I know I didsomething wrong and I want to
get help.
I know I did something wrongand I want to get help.
(54:06):
I just hope I can have a chanceto prove that I can.
So at sentencing on February of1984, the judge gave him the
statutory maximum of four and ahalf years.
Marie was livid that someone soobviously unbalanced and
dangerous, who could do what hedid to her and all those others
who could fill her with the fearthat she had been battling ever
(54:27):
since, would get off so lightly.
Marie and Bob were married ayear later and a year later that
Gordon was parole.
In 1992, marie and Bob moved toJessup and bought 20 acres out
in the country.
Marie had planted 1,387 slashpine trees, a hybrid, hardy,
(54:51):
fast grower favored by thelogging industry.
Just to say, he helped out.
Bob planted one.
It was her project, maybe alingering bit of therapy.
You know she figures.
Today Bob is retired from thejewelry business but works part
time in a friend's store in townwhere it doesn't interfere with
(55:15):
his hunting and fishing.
Marie never got tired ofshooting off of guns.
She works at the nearby Walmartselling guns and ammo and when
the armadillos get tooverrunning the property she
picks up the loaded .22 that shekeeps handy and goes out in the
(55:35):
clearing in front of theirhouse and, surrounded by already
towering slash trees, picksthose armadillos off one by one.
If she's out there shooting andbops off fishing, a caller gets
(55:56):
a message that says quote we'reprobably out fighting
mosquitoes or shootingarmadillos.
End quote Leave a message atthe tone.
And there were a very happyending in the boogeyman's
odyssey.
She was the one who got away.
Thank you for listening to themurder book.
(56:18):
Have a great week.
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