236 - The Disappearance of Bill Dwayne Shipley

Forty-seven year old Bill Dwayne Shipley was making final preparations for a multi-state trip for work. Operating as a contract painter, Bill would leave his home in Goldsby, Oklahoma, heading east into Arkansas, north into Missouri, west into Kansas and finally back home. It was set to be a fun and lucrative trip, but Bill never made it. In fact, no one can say with any certainty what exactly happened to him after July 19th, 2011.

When Bill failed to contact his family or return calls, his parents decided to stop by his home and check in on him. Instead of answers they found an empty home, with the doors left unlocked and clear indications that Bill had never actually left. Both of his trucks were gone, but his work clothes and computer had been left behind while a packed suitcase lie on the bed. When the McClain County Sheriff's Office was notified, they quickly found themselves ten steps behind in a case already growing cold.

Soon they would discover that Bill's disappearance was not the only mystery. His trucks couldn't be located, his cell phone was powered off and someone had been using his credit cards right up to the day police began investigation. Nearly thirteen years later, and both Bill's fate and the identity of the man using his cards has never been uncovered. What became of the missing brother and son and who might be responsible?

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Episode Transcript

(00:09):
When Bill Shipley set off from hishome in the small rural community of Goldsby,
Oklahoma, no one thought much ofit. A painter by trade,
Bill often traveled out of state oncontract jobs and could be gone for weeks
or even months at a time.In July of twenty eleven, he had
a multi state trip mapped out whichwould carry him through Kansas, Missouri,

(00:31):
and Texas, so no one thoughtmuch about it when they didn't hear from
Bill. However, after nearly amonth of silence and unreturned messages, his
parents grew worried and decided to dropby and see what was going on.
What they found would forever alter thecourse of their lives. Bill's home had
been left unlocked and inside was totaldisarray. Drawers were dumped out, food

(00:56):
rotted in the refrigerator and on thebed lay. Bill's suit case packed but
left behind. Soon the Shipleys learnedthat not only had no one seen their
son in weeks, but he'd neverarrived as his painting jobs. Either.
His clothes and his work computer wereleft behind, but his two trucks were
mysteriously missing. When deputies with theMcLean County Sheriff's Office got involved, they

(01:19):
found themselves weeks behind on a casethat was quickly growing cold. Eventually they'd
form a timeline which followed the missingman's last known movements through his bank,
his phone, his credit cards,and assorted surveillance cameras in the area.
Conflicting information would soon reveal that notonly had Bill Shipley gone missing, but

(01:42):
in his absence, someone had stolenboth of his trucks and much of his
pricey painting equipment. At the sametime, an unknown man had been using
Bill's credit card throughout the area ata store, a gas station, and
a restaurant. Surveillance video captured theman, but to this day, he
has never been positively identified and remainsthe only person of interest. So what

(02:06):
happened to Bill Shipley? Was hethe victim of a random crime perpetrated by
someone who was hoping to get theirhands on some fast cash. Was the
missing man purposefully targeted, perhaps bysomeone he believed he could trust. And
just who is this unknown man usingBill's credit cards up until the very day

(02:27):
that he was reported missing. Thisis Trace Evidence Episode two thirty six,
The Disappearance of Bill Dwayne Shipley.Welcome to Trace Evidence. I'm your host
Stephen Pacheco. Today we examine themysterious twenty eleven disappearance of Bill Dwayne Shipley

(02:53):
from Goldsby, Oklahoma. Before jumpinginto the case, just a quick reminder
that I will once again be representingTrace Evidence on podcast Row at crime Con
this year. Crime Con takes placein Nashville, Tennessee, on the weekend
of May thirty first through June second. As always, I'm excited to meet
and chat with all of you there. So if you're planning to attend and

(03:15):
you haven't yet purchased your pass,use promo code trace to save ten percent.
That's Crimecon dot Com promo code Trace. I'm really looking forward to seeing
you there. It's been nearly thirteenyears since Bill Shipley mysteriously vanished in the
summer of twenty eleven, and itappears at this point that investigators are no

(03:38):
closer to finding answers or Bill himself. This is episode two thirty six,
the disappearance of Bill Dwayne Shipley.Forty seven year old Bill Dwayne Shipley was

(03:58):
a quiet, hard working, friendlyguy living in the small town of Goldsby,
Oklahoma. He'd been in Oklahoma andhis entire life. Born on Thursday
March nineteenth, nineteen sixty four,in Cleveland County to parents William and Patricia,
he lived a quiet and unassuming life. Bill's younger sister and his only
sibling, Valerie, would later describeher brother as a regular guy, an

(04:23):
ordinary man who was dedicated to hiswork. He had a passion for cars
and working on engines. He lovedwatching Nascar and sometimes traveled to major events.
He was an intelligent, kind andcompassionate man, the type of person
you could feel comfortable going to witha problem or in search of advice.
He attended more high school and thenfollowed that up by attending a technical school.

(04:46):
As his interests had always been morein working with his hands rather than
reading classic literature. He liked tobe involved, to get grease up to
his elbows, and to take somethingthat refused to run and to get it
humming. Bill has been reported aboutthe vast majority of his life. He
was somewhat of a private person andpreferred to keep things in house. He

(05:08):
had no children and never married,though no one can say with any certainty
if he'd ever wanted those things tobegin with. To those who knew him,
he was happy with life and enjoyedhis work, and he definitely had
plenty of work to keep him busy. Operating as a contract painter, Bill's
work was tight, efficient and professional. He earned praise for the jobs he

(05:30):
had performed, and eventually he startedhis own business and watched it flourish.
He was doing well financially, butreally struck painter when he was offered a
long term contract from Arby's, afast food restaurant chain. The company hired
Bill to be their primary painter inOklahoma and surrounding states, So each summer
he'd embark upon long series of tripswhere he'd paint newly constructed and remodeled Arby's

(05:55):
stores throughout Texas, Missouri, andKansas, to name just a few,
frequently traveling out of state for hispainting jobs. Bill took extremely well to
his nomad like existence and loved beingable to visit other places and live there
for weeks at a time as heworked on a project. While business was

(06:15):
booming, Bill's social life was ratherquiet. He didn't keep a wide circle
of friends, but he didn't spendall of his free time alone either.
He was close with his parents andsister, and while He wasn't the type
to call daily or even weekly.He always maintained contact in one form or
another. Whenever he headed out onanother trip for work, he notified his

(06:36):
parents of his plans, his destinations, and when he figured he'd return.
While on the road, he calledonce or maybe twice a month to see
what was new in the check in, but he enjoyed his free time in
being out on his own. Accordingto friends, Bill was a polite and
happy guy who didn't have too manycomplaints outside of the normal struggles everybody deals

(06:57):
with. Being alone afforded Bill theability to spend his money as he saw
fit, and he mostly just pouredit back into his business, purchasing top
quality equipment and painting supplies. Heowned two trucks, both of them painted
in shades of deep red. Therewas his work truck, a nineteen eighty
eight Jeep Comanche with a ladder rack. Then there was his everyday truck,

(07:19):
a two thousand and two Chevrolet Sfourteen extended cab four by four. Since
Bill spent so much of his lifeon the road, he didn't see the
logic and putting down a lot ofmoney on a house that he'd only be
in for half the year at best. Instead, he purchased a fifth wheel
trailer. Essentially, it's like alarge RV or motor home, but without

(07:41):
the motor, it doesn't have anengine and instead can be towed, thus
making Bill's truck the fifth wheel forlong trips for pleasure or for work.
This afforded Bill the ability to takehis home right along with him, but
most of the time he left itbehind in lot number one oh four of
the Adkins Hill Mobile Home Park,located at twelve sixty nine North Adkin Hill

(08:05):
Road. While the address of themobile home park is listed as being in
the city in Norman, the seatof Cleveland County, the park is actually
located southwest from city lines, acrossthe Canadian River in the small town of
Goldsby, home to at the timeless than two thousand residents. So small
is Goldsby, in fact, thatit doesn't have its own post offices or

(08:26):
schools, and falls instead within thedistricts of a neighboring city to the south,
Washington. Despite its sparse population,Goldsby is home to one major draw
in the area, and that isthe River Wind Casino. Opened in two
thousand and six, The two hundredand nineteen thousand square foot casino is owned
and operated by the Chickasaw Nation andoffers not just a mecca for gambling,

(08:52):
but also two restaurants, a lounge, food court, multiple bars, and
a fifteen hundred seat theater that holdsconcert River Wind would become an area that
Bill frequented, as the casino compoundis located just two and a half miles
northwest of the mobile home park.As the spring of twenty eleven slowly made
the transition to summer, things wereabout to pick up for the forty seven

(09:16):
year old. With fall and winterbeing slow months for his painting business,
he hadn't been up to a wholelot recently. His family noted he'd spent
the previous few months relaxing and takingthings easy, but with summer's arrival,
he started making plans and preparations forhis Arby's contract. Receiving his marching orders
in early July, Bill was preparedto spend much of the next two months

(09:39):
on the road as he was assignedto paint restaurants in three states. First
he'd head east to Arkansas, thennorth to Missouri, and west to Kansas
before completing the circle and returning southto Oklahoma. According to Bill's father,
William, he and his wife Patricialast heard from their son on Friday,
July fifteenth. Reportedly, Bill seemedto be in a good mood and nothing

(10:03):
stood out as unusual or a causefor concern. During the call, Bill
explained his schedule over the next fewweeks and the locations he'd be traveling to
the family has stated that Bill alwaystold them where and when he would be
traveling, and that usually meant theywouldn't be hearing from him for several weeks.
Reportedly, Bill was planning to leavetown around Tuesday, the nineteenth,

(10:26):
However, he never made it tohis first job. In fact, there's
no evidence at all to suggest thatBill Shipley was even alive after the nineteenth,
but because of his tendency towards intermittentphone calls, no one would notice
anything was wrong for almost a month. William and Patricia first got the inkling

(10:46):
that something wasn't right a little lessthan a week after Bill was set to
have left town. While not afrequent caller, Bill never reached out on
his father's birthday, and that wassomething that stood out. He was good
about keeping track of birthdays and holidays, and always called, even if briefly,
to chat on special occasions. Theydidn't take the lack of a call

(11:07):
as a major sign that something waswrong. They knew Bill could get busy
while he was on the road andthings could slip his mind, but it
was the first domino to fall.Over the course of the next two weeks,
they made multiple attempts to contact him, but never got an answer or
a call back. After speaking tohis sister Valerie, they learned that she

(11:28):
had last spoken to him on thefourth of July. That meant, as
far as the family could confirm,no one had spoken to or seen Bill
since their last call on the fifteenth. Their sinking feelings, frustration, and
concern grew to an unmanageable point,and on Sunday, August fourteenth, nearly
a full month since they'd last spokento their son, William and Patricia decided

(11:52):
to travel to the mobile home parkto find out when exactly he'd left and
whether or not any of his neighborshad seen or heard from him. Instead,
the couple would be confronted by ascene which was as upsetting as it
was inexplicable. While both of Bill'strucks were mysteriously missing. His trailer was
still sitting in lot number one ohfour. The sidewall was still expanded,

(12:15):
which was strange because Bill always closedit before traveling. William and Patricia truly
started worrying when they found the doorto the trailer unlocked, a big no
no in Bill's world. Even ifhe were planning to travel without his trailer,
Bill always closed it up and lockedit securely before leaving town. Entering
the trailer, William quickly was overwhelmedby the smell of rotting food. Opening

(12:39):
the fridge, he found it filledwith spoiled groceries. None of the lights
worked, and William quickly determined thatthe power to the camper had been shut
off due to his son's failure topay the bill that month. Searching around,
William noted that all of his son'swork clothes were still there, along
with a laptop computer that Bill usedfor work. Entering the bedroom, he

(13:01):
found complete disarray. Dresser drawers wereleft open, much of their contents dumped
out on the floor. On thebed, There was a packed suitcase,
but it appeared that something had happenedto the forty seven year old before he
could leave with it. In additionto the disturbing and disheveled way in which
the trailer had been left, perhapsone of the most concerning discoveries was that

(13:24):
of Bill's beloved cat. The animalhad clearly been left without food or water
for what appeared to have been weeks, and had nearly died from starvation.
Bill loved his pets and treated themextremely well, so seeing the cat in
that condition sent up immediate red flags. While William and Patricia had gone to
the mobile home park assuming they'd findan easy explanation for their son's lack of

(13:46):
contact, instead they were confronted bythe horrible reality that their son was missing,
or perhaps worse. Outside of thefifth wheel trailer, William discovered that
Bill's shed had also been left unlocked, something his son would never do.
After speaking with some neighbors and learningthat no one had seen Bill around since

(14:07):
the time of the nineteenth, hisparents decided their best course of action would
be to contact investigators and report himmissing. The report was taken by an
official with the McLean County Sheriff's Office, and detectives were dispatched to the mobile
home park, where they planned toexamine the trailer and speak with neighbors in
an effort to determine what might havehappened. As soon as they entered,

(14:30):
they agreed with the Shipley family thatsomething was definitely wrong. While they could
find nothing which they believed indicated anytype of a struggle or crime had been
committed inside of the trailer, somethingwas definitely out of the ordinary. Police
recovered an ATM receipt dated July nineteenth, which showed a bank balance of more

(14:50):
than seven thousand dollars. That datebecame even more important when investigators were informed
that it appeared the nineteenth was alsothe last day Bill had picked up his
mail, which nearly a month laterwas overflowing. The ATM receipt also showed
that Bill had made a large withdrawalon the nineteenth, totaling between three and

(15:11):
four thousand dollars. However, therewas no sign of the money or Bill,
nor any indication of where he mayhave gone. While investigators ultimately spoke
with every person living in the mobilehome park, they found that most of
them didn't know Bill beyond a politewave from time to time, and no
one seemed to possess any information aboutthe last time he was actually seen.

(15:35):
One neighbor who has gone unidentified,apparently told investigators that, as best she
could recall, she had last seenBill approximately three to four weeks earlier,
which would match up with his presumeddate of disappearance being the nineteenth. While
she didn't have anything out of theordinary or unusual to report about Bill specifically,
she had noticed some strange things aroundhis property. According to the witness,

(16:00):
both of Bill's trucks were parked onhis lot, those being the eighty
eight Jeep Comanche and the two Chevyfour by four, both of which are
deep shades of red. However,this witness told detectives that sometime between a
week and ten days after she lastsaw Bill, she came home one day
and noticed that the Chevy was goneand it never came back. Not thinking

(16:22):
too much about it, her attentionwas caught a week or so later when
she looked outside and noticed that nowthe Jeep was also missing. She apparently
didn't see anyone in the area,nor did she witness the vehicles being driven
away, but she did find itodd that they had disappeared separately a week
or so apart, and she hadn'tseen Bill at all going through the home.

(16:44):
No forensic evidence was recovered, andinvestigators later noted that they hadn't seen
so much as a drop of bloodto suggest anything happened in the trailer.
While investigators didn't find any solid evidencethat Bill had been the victim of a
violent crime, or perhaps any crime, there was enough about the way his
home was left and his lack ofcontact for them to strongly state their belief

(17:06):
that Bill had likely been the victimof foul play. In hopes of determining
what might have happened and where Billmight be, police decided they needed to
follow several different avenues. Firstly,they reached out to the Rby's corporation,
who were able to confirm that Billhad never arrived for any of his scheduled
painting jobs and that they had beenunable to reach him over the previous weeks.

(17:27):
Next, they issued bolos for bothtrucks. Images of the vehicles,
their license plate numbers, and descriptionswere issued to local and surrounding law enforcement,
as well as the media. Thehope was that the sooner they could
get Bill's story out there and picturesof him and his trucks, the better
their chances might be of locating himor maybe a leading clue. They also

(17:49):
filed warrants to obtain Bill's cell phone, call messaging and location data, as
well as access to his bank accountsand credit cards. Their focus was on
jely By nineteenth and the days followingit, as they hoped to be able
to assemble some form or fashion ofa timeline determining where Bill had been and
what he had done leading up tohis disappearance might give them a direction to

(18:12):
start looking. Working off of theATM receipt found in the home, police
tracked it to Bill's bank local inGoldsby and managed to obtain surveillance footage which
showed the forty seven year old makingthe large withdrawals. For some reason,
this footage doesn't appear to be availablepublicly, so it's difficult to verify,

(18:32):
but investigators have said there didn't appearto be anything unusual about this activity.
Normally, in a missing person's case, this kind of large cash withdrawal might
stand out, but in Bill's caseit's a little different. After taking out
between three and four thousand dollars,Bill proceeded over to a Norman area paint
store, where he purchased approximately threethousand dollars in paint supplies for his arby's

(18:56):
job. Among the items purchased werecans of red and white paint, the
colors used at the restaurant chain.Lieutenant Dan Huff, a spokesperson for the
Sheriff's office, would later state quote, he bought some painting supplies to complete
the job, but those supplies,mister Shipley, and a substantial sum of
money has seemed to vanish. Certainly, there is the possibility that mister Shipley

(19:19):
was abducted and robbed, but ourhope right now is to find mister Shipley
end quote. After making this purchase, police report, there was an outgoing
call made on Bill's cell phone atapproximately five pm. Whether or not they
know the context of the call orthe person to who the call was made
is unknown, as investigators have neveroffered up any additional details about this call.

(19:45):
The final sighting of Bill takes placenot long after the five pm call.
Surveillance cameras at a Sonic fast foodrestaurant located directly across Highway nine from
the River Wind Casino shows Bill pullinginto the drive through with his red Chevy
truck. Although no time has beengiven for this sighting. A quick look

(20:06):
at the footage shows that's still brightand sunny out. The footage, which
is grainy and pixelated as all hell, shows his truck pull up to the
window, at which point he paysfor his order. It is extremely difficult
to tell, but investigators have statedthat there is an unknown individual in the
passenger seat of the truck. Accordingto the receipt data obtained from Sonic,

(20:26):
it was confirmed that Bill purchased twodrinks, an iced tea with lemon,
which his family says was his favorite, as well as a watermelon slushy,
something his family says he would havenever ordered for himself. The Sonic is
located just two and a half milesnorthwest from the mobile home park. What
exactly happened after this point has remaineda mystery for closing in on thirteen years.

(20:52):
At this point in time, it'sbelieved that Bill at least made it
home to his trailer that evening,as his Sonic cup was found in some
the home when police searched it.They've never been able to identify the person
who was in the truck with himthat day, but his family is convinced
it has to be someone he knows, which makes it all the more confounding
that the unidentified person has never comeforward. Bill's sister, Valerie later told

(21:18):
the Percell Register that it would havebeen completely out of character for her brother
to give a ride to someone hedidn't know, let alone to allow a
stranger inside of his truck at all. The family is uncertain as to whether
or not the person in the truckthat day is connected to Bill's disappearance,
but they do believe that individual couldpossess important information to insist investigators, even

(21:41):
if they don't know it. Valerienoted that the unknown passenger could help fill
in gaps about the day and eveningleading up to the last time Bill was
known to be alive. She explained, quote that person, even if they
had nothing, we would like forthem to come forward. Did they see
anything at the house? Did someonemeet them? Where exactly did they go?

(22:03):
End quote. Investigators stated at thetime end in the years since,
that they were hoping the lab couldenhance the video. However, if that
ever occurred, which I can't confirm, an updated version of that footage has
never been released, at least thatI could find. Considering the large money
withdrawal in the big purchase at thepaint store. Police began considering the possibility

(22:26):
that someone might have noticed that Billhad a lot of money on him and
planned to rob him. Family confirmedthat he often carried a large amount of
cash in a wad in his pocketand wasn't shy about pulling it out to
make purchases. Investigators wondered if someonemight have seen Bill flashing his cash and
followed him home to the mobile homepark. The problem was not only did

(22:47):
they find no hard evidence of acrime at Bill's home, there weren't any
witnesses who saw strange people, heardstrange sounds or yelling, or anything that
would make it fit together. Ifanything, it appeared. They were likely
that whoever was responsible for Bill's disappearancewas likely someone he knew, whether that
was on a personal or professional basis. A large scale search was organized at

(23:11):
the mobile home park, with Bill'strailer being at the center. The park
is open to the west facing towardsnorth Atkins Hill Road and the south facing
towards east Burr Oak Road. Tothe north and east. However, a
thick tree line separates the park froma private road and residences to the north
and a large farm to the east. Approximately one mile northeast of the park

(23:34):
lies the Canadian River, the largesttributary of the Arkansas River. Running for
more than one thousand miles, theriver twists and carves its way through Oklahoma,
the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico,and Colorado. The land search yielded
no results, not so much asa trace of Bill, Assuming the worst,

(23:56):
Cadaver dogs were also brought in tosweep through the park and the land
surrounding bill home, but again nothingwas found. At the time, investigators
theorized that Bill might have been trickedinto going down to the river, or
might have been forcibly taken there,and that he was likely killed or dumped
somewhere along the river, or perhapshad been placed into it. Despite exhaustive

(24:17):
searches along the river banks and throughthe water, they could find nothing to
indicate Bill had been there or thathe had been killed in that area.
In addition to these searches, advancedtesting was done inside of Bill's trailer in
a search for forensic evidence, inparticular bodily fluids, but again nothing was
found. It seemed apparent to investigatorsthat whatever had happened to Bill, it

(24:40):
had likely happened elsewhere. With nothingto work with or build on at the
mobile home park, investigators turned theirattention to what other information might yield clues
or at least give them some indicationof where to take their search. Examining
Bill's cell phone data, they learnedthat the five PM call on the nineteenth
was the last one made, althoughseven days later, on the twenty sixth,

(25:03):
someone had attempted to call the phoneand it wasn't a member of the
family. The call wasn't answered,and whether or not police know who placed
that call has never been revealed.This is the last activity on the phone
and after the twenty six that appearsto have either been powered off or broken.
Police had the phone pinged and cameto discover that it was last active

(25:26):
in the Goldsby area. Unfortunately,they weren't able to exactly narrow it down.
The pings showed that the phone waslast used somewhere within a six mile
radius of Goldsby. This radius alsocovered parts of the cities of Norman and
Noble, which essentially means the phonecould have been used almost anywhere in a
wide area. Lieutenant Dan Huff explainedthat the phone was used quote near Goldsby,

(25:49):
about six miles to the north orsouth of Goldsby. Anyway, it
could have been used in Norman endquote. So while they had hoped the
phone one might give them a direction, all it really did was confirmed that
they were within at least six milesof it. But to this day,
Bill's phone has never been found.While the trail of the phone had unfortunately

(26:11):
turned out to be a dead end. Six days into the search for Bill,
on Saturday, August twentieth, investigatorswould get a major break. Nearly
twenty miles north from the trailer park, Bill's red Jeep Commanchee pickup truck was
discovered abandoned in the parking lot ofthe Brookwood Village apartments, not far from
the intersection of southwest eighty ninth Streetand South Walker Avenue. The jeep was

(26:36):
found parked in the lot nearly upagainst a picket fence not far from the
entrance. While the latter rack wasstill present jutting up from the bed of
the truck, the ladder itself wasmissing. The bed of the truck was
filled with paint cans, plastic wrap, and other painting supplies. However,
when the family was shown the vehicle, they noted several things which were missing.

(26:59):
Valerie would lay to explain the missingitems. Speaking to News on six,
she stated, quote, two airlesssprayers. One was a Titan four
forty I, one was a fourhundred on a skid. He had professional
ladders he had purchased for his jobthe day before. Five gallon paint that
was red and Navajo white. Thosewere also taken end quote. For the

(27:22):
record, both of the airless sprayerstoday retail for between nine hundred and twelve
hundred dollars apiece At the time.Sheriff's detective David Tompkins, one of the
first to signed to the case,contacted local pawn shops and advised them to
notify his office should any of thesesprayers show up. Years later, he
continues to periodically check in on pawnshops and reselling stores in the area,

(27:48):
but Bill's equipment has never been located. In addition to the sprayers, paint
supplies, and ladders, Valerie addedthat some lights were also missing from the
jeep. The vehicle was taken inprocess for potential evidence, and while fingerprints,
hares and fibers were collected, theyhave no way to connect them to
anyone without additional information. Presumably theprints were run through the system and didn't

(28:11):
return any matches, although this hasnever been specifically stated. What they were
primarily looking for was evidence of acrime, namely blood, but none was
found. Lieutenant Dan Huff explained,quote, we have processed it for finger
prints, hair and fibers and wereworking on that now. We didn't locate
any evidence at the scene that wasdramatic to the visual eye end quote.

(28:37):
It appeared that while the jeep hadbeen taken and abandoned, no violent crime
had occurred inside of the vehicle itself. Not much could be learned from the
jeep, sadly, and police foundthemselves almost reset back to square one.
A full canvas of the apartment complexfailed to turn up any witnesses who had
seen who had been driving the jeep, nor had anyone have an accounting for

(28:57):
when the jeep had arrived. Whilean exciting find and a break in the
case, the jeep did not provideany evidence of value nor new avenues to
investigate. With one truck found,investigators doubled up their efforts to try and
track down the other the Chevy fourby four, hoping for more impactful results.

(29:18):
In addition to their work, Bill'sfamily had printed up thousands of missing
Persons flyers showing him and the stillmissing truck, and they plastered goldsby Norman
and surrounding areas with the flyers,putting them up in store windows, on
poles and trees, and even inthe windows of their own vehicles. Right
when detectives were beginning to feel likethe case was slipping away from them,

(29:40):
they finally received paperwork from Bill's creditcard company, and what it revealed was
extremely curious. Just days prior tothe family reporting Bill missing, someone had
been using his credit card in bothNorman and Oklahoma City. On Friday,
August twelfth, the credit card wasused at a Murphy USA gas station located

(30:02):
at three sixty three North Interstate Drivein Norman, approximately five miles north of
Bill's home and directly off northbound Exitone oh nine of I thirty five.
That same day, the card wasused again, this time at the Saltgrass
Steakhouse in Norman, located at sixto fifty North Interstate Drive off southbound Exit

(30:23):
one ten B. The steakhouse islocated just a mile and a half north
and across I thirty five from theMurphy gas station. The final charge revealed
by investigators was made the next day, Saturday, August thirteenth, just one
day before Bill's parents would report ofmissing. This time, the card was

(30:44):
used at a home Depot store inSouth Oklahoma City, located at seventy four
hundred South Shields Boulevard. This storeis located fourteen miles north of the Steakhouse
along I thirty five and off Exitone twenty one B. Interestingly, if
you follow the trail, the creditcard moves north from Goldsby into Norman,
where two purchases are made. Itthen continues north along I thirty five to

(31:10):
where the final transaction is made atthe home Depot. Unfortunately, police have
not revealed what was purchased at thehome depot or the gas station, although
presumably food was purchased at the steakhouse. What stands out, however, is
that these charges begin just days beforeBill is reported missing, not immediately following

(31:30):
his disappearance. Then, after policearrive at Bill's home, the cards never
used again. Both the family andinvestigators have speculated that it was possible the
person using the card either kept eyeson the mobile home park or was connected
to someone who lived there and stoppedusing the card once they learned that police

(31:52):
had arrived to investigate the disappearance.Bill's father, William, explained to News
on six saying, quote is,credit cards were run at several places,
but it stopped at that time.Somebody saw someone was there. We are
not going to stop. We aregoing to find the people that are involved
in this end quote. If therewere additional charges made prior to the twelfth,

(32:15):
but after the nineteenth, police havenever confirmed. While these charges are
curious and show a northern pathway forthe unknown person using them, it wasn't
so much their use but the locationsthemselves that would provide police with their biggest
break to date. The gas stationhad several surveillance cameras, both inside and
out. When police requested footage,they were excited to see that both sets

(32:39):
of cameras had captured images of theman using Bill's card. Several frames show
him walking past the gas pumps andentering the store. The same individual was
captured a short time later on asecurity camera inside of the Saltgrass Steakhouse,
although that footage is black and whitepolice quickly released still frame images of the

(32:59):
man and requested the public's assistance inidentifying him. He is described as a
white male around fifty years of age, standing six feet two inches tall and
weighing around two hundred and fifty pounds. He has a large stomach, light
colored eyes, and whitish or lightcolored hair. In the footage, he
was dressed in tan overalls, awhite long sleeved shirt with a faint yellow

(33:22):
grid check pattern, and two angledbuttonfold pockets on the right and left chest.
He also wore dark brown western stylework boots and a green John Deere
baseball cap. Police have theorized thatthe man made efforts to conceal his identity,
noting that in some images he wearssunglasses and in others has his chin

(33:44):
down so that the brim of hishat hides his full face. There's also
mention of a towel or some similarobject used to hide his face, but
I've never seen that image nor learnedwhere it was captured. However, a
quick look at the photos doesn't necessarilytrans late to me that this guy's hiding
anything. A large portion of hisface is captured on film, and at

(34:06):
least at the gas station. Ifhe was trying to hide his identity,
he did a really bad job.At the steakhouse. The camera is housed
near the ceiling and angled down,and as a result, the brim of
the cap hides his face from thenose up. While I agree it's frustrating
to not get the full picture,this doesn't appear to be a concerted or
masterminded effort to hide his identity.He's wearing a hat and as a result,

(34:30):
a camera above his head doesn't capturehis face. It's pretty basic,
to be honest, and there's anotherreason why I would argue that this is
not some effort to hide his identity. The camera footage got such a good
look at this guy's face that thepolice were able to put out and released
an extremely detailed composite of what theman's face looks like without his sunglasses on.

(34:53):
It's not your generic composite where itcould be almost anyone. It's distinct
and looks as though someone actually satfor this portrait. Suffice it to say,
if this was a person you knewin your day to day life,
I don't think you'd have a moment'shesitation identifying him from the drawing or the
still framed images. Thinking along thesame lines, police issued the sketch to

(35:16):
the papers local media, and hadit added to missing persons flyers, which
they posted all across the state.Once the image was circulated of a man
they described as a person of interest, investigators expected to receive a number of
calls from people explaining who they thoughtthat man might be, But to their
surprise, despite the media coverage,the surveillance footage, and the composite,

(35:38):
they didn't get calls from anyone whoclaimed to know the man's identity. Speaking
to the Norman Transcript on August twentyfifth, Lieutenant Dan Huff expressed investigator's frustration
with how few calls they had received. He explained, quote, we're not
getting the response we'd usually get ina case like this. So far,

(35:58):
we've gotten less than ten tips.Usually we'd get hundreds of them, even
if a lot of them are nuisancecalls. End quote. Because of the
lack of calls, investigators began theorizingthat since no one obviously recognized this man,
he must not be from the area. Of course, if he wasn't,
it's odd that he was still hangingaround town. Using the missing man's

(36:21):
credit card nearly a month after hedisappeared. Strange behavior, since it's usually
customary for criminals to want to getaway from the area, not linger for
a month getting caught on numerous camerasusing a missing and likely murdered man's credit
cards. Interestingly, while this personof interest remains unidentified to this day,

(36:42):
Detective Tompkins noted that he has agood idea who the man might be,
but without corroborating evidence or information,he can't reveal the name publicly. So
is the man in fact local afterall? While that remains to be seen
Sadly, by the end of August, the investigation into Bill's disappearance was already
beginning to grow cold. Despite findinghis missing jeep and processing it, searching

(37:07):
through his trailer and property, trackinghis cell phone and credit cards, and
releasing still images and a composite ofthe person of interest, investigators were not
receiving any assistance from the public.Bill had indeed lived a predominantly quiet and
private life, and it seemed apparentthat not many people knew him or were
familiar enough with him to offer muchinsight into what might have happened. Anyone

(37:30):
he may have had problems with orany concerns he had for his own safety.
They became more and more convinced thatwhoever was involved likely knew Bill,
whether personally or through business. However, a search of his Internet history opened
up the door to a different possibility. Detectives found that Bill had an account

(37:50):
with Craigslist, and a few weeksprior to his disappearance, he had made
a post advertising that he was lookingto hire a painter's helper. Police have
never confirmed whether or not anyone replieddirectly to the post, but as possible,
Bill could have spoken to someone ormore than one person about the job
opportunity. It's been theorized that someonemight have responded to the post not looking

(38:12):
for a job, but potentially searchingfor someone to rob or take advantage of
living alone, running his own company, and known to carry large sums of
cash on his person, Bill wouldhave made an enticing target. Unfortunately,
whether or not this angle of theinvestigation provided any true insight has never been
stated, and this detail about Craigslistis often reported casually with no additional examination

(38:37):
or follow up. I know fromsearching myself that Bill had social media accounts
prior to his disappearance, and oneof them remains open, an untouched glimpse
into his life at the time surroundinghis disappearance. It's flooded with pictures and
posts, but curiously, there isno one on his friend's list, no
comments, likes, or anything fromanyone else than Bill himself. The final

(39:01):
post is dated July eighth, twentyeleven, just eleven days before the forty
seven year old vanished. It's avery unassuming page. There's nothing that really
stands out about it, and certainlythere doesn't appear to be anything connected to
or suggesting anyone that Bill may havehad problems with or been afraid of.

(39:22):
By the end of twenty eleven,things had begun fading out fairly quickly,
and both investigators and the family hopeto keep the story in the headlines,
to keep Bill's name and image atthe forefront of the community's minds. But
all the same, the case continuedto slip. The family started offering rewards
for information two thousand dollars than fourthousand dollars, but despite the offers,

(39:46):
police didn't see a major uptick incalls or tips. As for the family,
someone called them twice from a localpayphone to give information. What information
was given, we don't know,and the family has since made please for
the caller to call again. Valerieexplained, quote, maybe they might have

(40:07):
known more. They called twice,and we ask again, call just let
us know, even if it's justthe smallest amount of things that we can
grasp and hope to locate where Billis at end quote. Unfortunately, the
last major update in this case cameon Tuesday, August fourteenth, twenty twelve,

(40:27):
exactly one year to the day thatBill's parents searched his home and reported
him missing. On that Tuesday morning, a manager employed at the East Lake
Village apartments noticed a truck in theparking lot that hadn't moved since she'd started
working there. Tagging the truck,she contacted a tow truck company located in
More and they arrived to take thevehicle. At that point, the truck's

(40:52):
vennumber and license plate were run throughthe system and kicked back that this was
the missing truck of Bill Shipley.The apartment complex is located at twelve nine
oh one Southwestern Avenue, placing itjust shy of three miles south from the
Brookwood Apartments, where Bill's jeep hadbeen found a year earlier. Apparently,

(41:13):
the East Lake Village apartments at thetime were a popular spot for members of
the military to rent. As aresult, it was extremely common for vehicles
to remain in the parking lot,unmoved and untouched for several weeks or even
months at a time if a tenantwere deployed or shipped elsewhere for service.
As a result, no one knowsfor certain just how long Bill's truck had

(41:37):
been parked there, but there's avery good chance it had been abandoned within
days of the jeep. The discoveryof the Chevy four by four was heralded
by investigators as a big break.It was the truck Bill was driving in
the surveillance footage of Sonic, whichmeans he drove it the last night he
was known to be alive. Unfortunately, much like with the jeep, while

(41:59):
investing sigators pulled fiber, hair andfingerprint evidence from the Chevy, it didn't
connect them to any suspects or anynew areas to investigate. Lieutenant Huff would
later tell reporters quote, it couldcome into play later, but right now,
it's not helping us find mister Shipleyend quote. Another hopeful fine turned

(42:20):
into a disappointment for police and thefamily. The missing Chevy had been a
key piece of the case they hopedwould finally provide some answers, but as
has been with so much of thiscase, it was another frustrating dead end.
A few years back, Detective Tompkinsadded Bill to a deck of cards
distributed to prisoners in the Oklahoma Departmentof Corrections. He is represented on the

(42:43):
aid of Clubs. A long shot, according to detectives, but you never
know who might see that card andremember something. Tompkins, heartbroken for the
family, maintains his hope that theywill get some movement on the case.
He stated, quote, it's stillan active case. We have followed many
leads, but they are dead endleads. It's kind of disappointing. We've

(43:07):
not come up with him, hisvehicle, or the property. So far,
we have come up with nothing.End quote. In the nearly thirteen
years which have passed since Bill Shipleywas last seen, time has moved forward
for much of the world, butnot for his parents or his sister.
All these years later, they continueto hope to someday find the answers they

(43:30):
have sought to see justice done andto be able to bring Bill Holmes that
they might lay him to rest.The family has a burial plot in a
Shawnee area cemetery and they have erecteda stone for Bill. It shows his
birth date, but no date ofdeath. Two cross checkered flags are engraved
on the stone, and at thetop it reads beloved son and brother.

(43:53):
A quote, apparently one of Bill'sfavorites, spans the bottom of the stone,
reading I would rather walk with Godin the dark than go alone in
the light. When last seen,Bill Dwayne Shipley was described as being a
white male with brown hair and blueeyes, standing five feet nine inches tall

(44:14):
and weighing approximately one hundred and seventyfive pounds. Bill wears wire framed prescription
glasses. His shoe size is eightand a half or nine, his shirt
size is large or extra large,and his pant size is thirty four or
thirty six. He has not beenseen nor heard from since Tuesday July nineteenth,

(44:35):
twenty eleven, and as a formerresident of the Atkin Hill Mobile Home
Park in Goldsby, a reward remainsavailable for information leading to his location.
Bill was forty seven years old atthe time of his disappearance, and if
alive today, would be turning sixtynext month. In addition, police would

(44:57):
like to speak with the person whowas using Bill's credit card in the Norman
and Oklahoma City areas in the daysleading up to him being reported missing.
This man is described as a whitemale with light hair and eyes, standing
six foot two inches tall and weighingapproximately two hundred and fifty pounds. He
has a large stomach, medium complexion, and when captured on surveillance video,

(45:20):
was wearing brown overalls, a whitegrid check patterned shirt, brown western style
work boots, and a green JohnDeer hat. There are many images of
him available, including a highly detailedcomposite. Believed to be fifty at the
time, he would be in hisearly sixties today. Bill Shipley was a

(45:43):
quiet, unassuming man who lived asimple life. He loved his family,
fixing engines, watching Nascar, andpainting. He was a reliable man,
a responsible and skilled employee, abeloved and cared for son and brother.
He is missed will continue to bemissed for so long as those who love
him are here to remember the goodtimes and the happy moments. But their

(46:07):
road has been difficult and filled withbroken dreams and dashed hopes. Asked about
the search for Bill more than adecade later, his sister Valerie simply replied,
quote, it's something I would notwant to wish on anybody. My
parents have been through so much painand so much heartache every day. It's

(46:28):
in our minds every day. Lifeis full of compromises. Sometimes you really
want that leather jacket, but yousettle for pleather because it won't break the
bank. Or maybe you're thinking abouttickets to see your favorite singer, but

(46:50):
it makes more sense to fill therefrigerator. But when it comes to your
health, there should be no compromise. So don't go back to that one
doctor who uses your appointment to rambleabout their own life while paying little attention
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(47:13):
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(47:34):
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(47:55):
be too. Go to ZocDoc dotcom, slash trace and download the ZocDoc
app for free. Then find andbook a top rated doctor today. That's
zoc doc dot com slash trace ZocDocdot com slash trace. Thirteen years ago,

(48:20):
Bill Shipley mysteriously vanished from his Goldsbyarea home and has never been located.
His trucks have been found, hiscredit cards tracked, his phone analyzed,
but none of this led investigators anycloser to finding out not only what
happened to him, but who wasresponsible. A series of still images from
surveillance cameras depict an unidentified man whowas apparently using Bill's credit cards right up

(48:45):
until the day he was reported missing, and then, with no explanation,
the purchases stopped. The card isnever used again, and despite an exhaustive
media campaign, the older, farmerlooking man has remained unidentified. This man
might possess answers that could finally helppolice to figure out what went down,
but somehow no one recognizes him.Maybe all of you could help. If

(49:07):
you wouldn't mind, please share theflyer showing this unknown man on social media.
I'll provide a link to it rightin the show notes. Someone out
there knows who he is, andif enough eyes can get on that flyer,
maybe someone will finally submit the tipthat breaks everything open. Now,
I fully admit that Bill's case isone of the more frustrating ones I've ever

(49:30):
worked on. Usually, it's toughbecause there's no information, no suspects,
no crime scene, and you're essentiallystuck in the dark trying to find a
black string on a dirty rug.Here, though, it's actually more frustrating
because of all of the evidence available. Both of Bill's trucks were recovered and
processed, the photographs of the personof interest using Bill's credit card that are

(49:51):
so sharp and clear, and artistwas able to create a finally detailed,
composite image, and yet no one'scome forward to identify him. Trust me.
If you this guy, you'd recognizehim in a heartbeat. So he's
either a ghost or there's people whoknow his name but have elected not to
share it, and as a result, a family suffers needlessly grasping its straws

(50:13):
for a lost son and brother.Taking a look at the case, there
have only ever been two real theoriessuggested by investigators. Both of them refer
to foul play, as no oneassociated with the case believes there's a chance
of finding Bill out there alive afterall this time. While technically a missing
person's case, it maintains that definitiononly due to a lack of proof that

(50:35):
Bill has been the likely victim ofa homicide. Investigators believe that sometime during
the evening of July nineteenth, twentyeleven, one or more individuals were president
the mobile home park, and thatsomewhere between his fifth wheel trailer and the
Canadian River to the northeast, Billwas the victim of a violent crime.
It's also possible that the crime occurredelsewhere, perhaps at a location Bill was

(50:59):
lured, but no one can sayfor certain. The one question that really
burns up detectives and the family iswho could have been involved it's believed that
the suspect or suspects, as policetheorize, more than one person likely knew
Bill in some way. They couldhave been acquaintances, friends, or perhaps
people he worked with previously. Onthe other hand, many have considered the

(51:22):
possibility that, since the man inthe photos has never been identified and no
one who knew Bill seems to haveany helpful information, that just maybe it
could have been a random crime,and perhaps that is what has made it
so difficult to crack. In aneffort to save both time and compare things
more accurately, I think we'll runthrough the two theories side by side and

(51:44):
see what makes the most sense,if anything. Does we know that Bill
last spoke to his family on thefourteenth, five days before he's believed to
have gone missing. No one cansay for sure that the nineteenth is in
fact the day he disappeared, butit's the last day he's around town and
the last day he picks up hismail, so presumably he disappears sometime between

(52:05):
five pm on the nineteenth, whenhe makes that last call from his cell
phone, and five pm on thetwentieth. There's really not enough relevant information
to narrow it down further than that. Every one of Bill's trackable movements,
from his stop at the bank tothe paint store to the Sonic drive in
all happen on the nineteenth. Forthe most part, it's what you'd expect.

(52:27):
Bill goes to the bank, takesout some cash, hits up the
paint store, and buys supplies forhis upcoming work. The first curious moment
comes when he pulls around in theSonic drive through with an unidentified passenger.
Now, I've watched this security footagemore times than I can count, and
it's absolutely atrocious. Frankly, Ican't even tell who's in that truck,

(52:47):
let alone if there's a passenger.Seemingly, police confirm the passenger by two
methods, speaking to the person workingthe drive through that day and from Bill's
order, which includes his usual aniced tea with lemon as well as a
watermelon slushy, something that the familysays Bill would never order for himself.
Being that the unidentified passenger has nevercome forward with any information, we make

(53:13):
the leap and assume he either hasinformation about what happened or he was directly
involved. Unfortunately, we don't knowwho this person is, where they met
Bill, or how they ended upin the passenger seat of his truck that
day. His sister asserts that Billwasn't the type to give rides to hitchhikers,
nor would he allow a stranger inthe truck to begin with. Honestly,

(53:34):
the whole situation with the passenger givesme flashbacks to episode two thirty four,
the disappearance of Steven Adams, whichhappens just one county over and also
involves a mysterious passenger who has neverbeen identified. Not to say the cases
are related, but what the hellis going on with giving people rides in
Oklahoma? What happens after Sonic isalmost anyone's guests, but we know Bill

(53:59):
arrived home at some point point thatevening. This is confirmed when police locate
his empty Sonic cup, although I'venever seen anything to confirm how they know
that's the cup from that day andnot a cup from a previous day,
But I digress. Reportedly, thetrailer was in disarray and looked like a
mess on the inside, but policefind no signs of a struggle, no
blood or body fluids, nothing tosuggest a violent crime occurred. This goes

(54:22):
the same for Bill shed and bothof his trucks. Presumably the crime scene
was either somewhere else entirely, orit was outside where not much is going
to be left. A month later, initially, detectives develop a theory the
position of Bill's trailer in Lot oneoh four was, according to a map

(54:42):
provided by the trailer park, directlyacross the road from a thick wooded area
which functioned as somewhat of a naturaldivide between the park and farms in private
residences off Allen Road to the north. So it's thought that Bill might have
either been forced or tricked into walkinginto that wooded area and was either killed
or otherwise dispatched there or perhaps furtheralong towards the Canadian River. The closest

(55:07):
I can approximate the river being toBill's home is about half a mile,
which isn't exactly an impossible walk,but if done in the dark at night,
could be somewhat difficult and certainly outof the way. Originally, investigators
seemed fairly certain that Bill had likelybeen killed down by the river, at
which point his body was placed inthe water, or he was left or

(55:29):
buried somewhere along the shoreline. Whatexactly led them to this belief is uncertain,
so whether they had something pointing thatway or it was just a solid
theory, we don't know. Eitherway. They did bring cadaver dogs around
the property, through the woods andalong the river banks without any indications,
but as we've seen in many casespreviously, regardless of how thorough a search

(55:53):
is claimed to have been, thingsare still missed. Personally, I struggle
to understand how anything could have happenedat the trailer park without someone hearing or
seeing something. Those trailers are placedwithin fifteen feet of one another, and
this was a warm July night whereyou'd expect some folks to be outside or
to hap their windows open. Perhapsshort of this having been done in the

(56:15):
late night or early morning hours,I struggle to accept it was carried out
without anyone noticing something. Hell,we don't even have any statements from neighbors
to say they saw anyone at Bill'shome that night or ever. It's all
very strange. So then there's theother possibility that the crime doesn't happen at
the park but somewhere else entirely.Maybe Bill is giving a ride home to

(56:37):
his unidentified companion when he's ambushed orperhaps he had previously made plans to meet
with someone or get together. Eitherway, there's not much to analyze because
he could have gone to, beenlured to, or been forced to almost
anywhere. Now, if he tookone of his own trucks, someone had
to bring it back before later stealingit and the other truck, which doesn't

(57:00):
make much sense to me, andmaybe that's the big issue with this case.
What makes more sense that two suspectsdo something to Bill and steal his
truck simultaneously that night, or basedon the neighbor's statements, that after the
crime is perpetrated, the suspects returnto the trailer park on two separate days,
on two separate occasions, approximately aweek apart, and steal the trucks

(57:23):
independent of one another. Honestly,there's a part of me that's always wondered
if the truck thefts might even beunrelated. Maybe someone simply noticed Bill hadn't
been home, there was no activityon his property. They assume he's out
of town on work, and theystart stealing equipment, and eventually they take

(57:43):
both trucks. Sadly, with aslittle as has been determined, there's no
way to know for certain that thetrucks are actually related to what happened to
Bill. The jeep is found first, approximately six days after Bill's reported missing,
in the parking lot of the brookWould Village apartments, about twenty miles
north of the trailer park. Thechevy, found a year later, is

(58:05):
in the East Lake Village apartments.This area is just shy of three miles
south of Brookwood Village and approximately sixteenmiles north of Bill's trailer. Both of
these complexes are in what is consideredSouth Oklahoma City, and there don't appear
to be any direct connections between anyof these spots and what is known of
Bill's life. Whether or not thesuspects dumped the vehicles there purposefully and according

(58:30):
to a plan, or if theysimply selected these lots at random, is
also unknown. Now the only otherway we have to really track any probable
locations is through Bill's credit card.Unfortunately, the ping data on his phone
is just too broad and offers upa radius of six miles surrounding Goldsby,
in which his phone was last Jewsand that's essentially a needle in a haystack.

(58:52):
But what's interesting is to watch wherethe credit card is used on the
twelfth, two days before the missingperson's report. It's used at a gas
station and a steakhouse in Norman.Both locations are little more than five miles
north of Bill's trailer. Then proceedingnorth by way of sixtieth Avenue northwest,
that road eventually becomes Southwestern Avenue,and the East Lake apartment complex is approximately

(59:17):
ten miles from the steakhouse. Lessthan three miles north is the Brookwood Village
apartments. Then there's the final creditcard use at the home depot, which
is just two miles north of Brookwood. I understand it may sound a little
confusing, but basically you could leaveBill's house and along the way you'd hit
the gas station, the steakhouse,East Lake, Brookwood, and the home

(59:39):
depot without much trouble. I thirtyfive runs parallel to Southwestern Avenue and is
likely faster as well, but youcould take either route. It certainly seems
like all the evidence is traveling north, suggesting the likelihood that your suspect or
suspects have some connection to Oklahoma City, or at least the southern port of

(01:00:00):
it. There's a lot of questionspresented here that have never been answered.
Why take both trucks in the firstplace, if you're just planning to abandon
them and not chop them out forparts or make some money off of them.
Why go out of your way todump them an apartment complexes when there's
two airports and several strip malls alongthe way. Maybe to buy more time,

(01:00:20):
maybe to cause confusion, or maybeit's all just random. Now,
it's believed Bill had cash on him, and his killers likely took that from
him, in addition to likely sellingoff much of his expensive painting gear and
equipment. All of that combined shouldhave been a pretty decent haul of between
three and five thousand dollars. Butif this was all about money, as

(01:00:43):
most crimes often are, why didn'tthey go for more? We know Bill
had over seven thousand dollars in hisbank account at the time, so why
didn't they take him to an ATMand force them to withdraw more money,
or you know, force them tohand over the pin to his debit card.
It seems odd to using his creditcard when you could have just tried
to get all the cash that nightand then have left no paper trail at

(01:01:06):
all. Their credit card is reallya confounding aspect to the case. Police
have never specified any charges on thecard after the nineteenth and before August eleventh.
Instead, all the charges they noteoccur on the twelfth and thirteenth,
which seems strange to me. Stealingsomeone's credit card, you're likely to assume
that it's going to be reported missingor when Bill fails to send in his

(01:01:30):
payment that month, it's going tobe cut off. So why wait nearly
a month to start using it?We know the last transaction occurs the day
before the police are called to thehome, and at that point it's theorized
that whoever was using a card waseither watching Bill's property or had someone in
the park keeping an eye out forthem. Hell, I'd wager it's entirely

(01:01:50):
possible someone living there at the timeof the crime knows a hell of a
lot more than they've ever shared withpolice. But I digress. So you've
got this credit card, which youknow is either directly connected to a homicide,
or maybe you're someone who had justgot passed to as a hot card
and you're unfamiliar with the crime.You're still going to know you're using that

(01:02:10):
stolen card, So what are yougoing to do with it. Buy a
bunch of expensive clothes, get somesweet stereo equipment. No, you go
to a gas station, convenience store, a steakhouse, and a home depot.
I don't know, maybe it's justme, but I find that incredibly
bizarre. Of all the ways touse that stolen card, and it's in

(01:02:31):
these basic kind of stupid, almostlike you want to be caught ways.
Yet he isn't caught because despite allof the video and pictures in the composite,
not one person calls in to identifyhim. I find it remarkably difficult
to believe that no one in thearea knows who he is. Clearly someone

(01:02:51):
and likely more than one person,are keeping things to themselves. So again
we go back to the question atthe beginning. Is this a crime committed
by strangers or by people who knewBill? If it was people who knew
him and they were able to lurehim into some kind of a trap,
or who knows, maybe something justwent wrong and there was a big incident

(01:03:12):
and in the end they turned onBill. Either way, they have to
be local. Bill didn't appear tokeep in close contact with a lot of
people, and of those he didthey were in the Oklahoma area, so
if he knew them, I'm notsure how they wouldn't be local. Even
if by some chance they weren't,they sure seemed to possess a strong knowledge
of the area, And frankly,if I'm not from there, then I'm

(01:03:35):
certainly not hanging around a month laterstill using this guy's credit card. It
just makes no sense. A lotof the problem in this case is motive,
in that we don't have one.Sure it could be robbery. Money's
one of the oldest motives in thebook. I could buy that a little
more easily if the trucks had neverbeen found and the credit card wasn't used

(01:03:55):
on stupid little purchases. Usually,if you're going to row someone's to get
a lot of easy cash fast,whether it's to buy drugs or pay off
a debt or some other reason,you might be driven to commit such a
crime. It just doesn't make sensein my head that you'd kill this man,
steal his valuables, take his cash, steal his credit cards, and
then go to a gas station conveniencestore to buy stuff. Then again,

(01:04:18):
it's entirely possible that the suspects hereare fucking idiots. I tend to lean
a little bit more towards the suspectsknowing Bill, because well, the man
lived a pretty closed off life.I'm not sure how strangers would not only
come to know where he lives,but also be of the opinion that this
is someone worth robbing and maybe evenkilling for what he has. The Craigslist

(01:04:41):
post is interesting in this regard.When Bill advertised his need for a painting
assistant, did he get a lotof calls? How much did he share
about himself? Might he have comeacross as a good potential victim. It's
hard to say, but given hisfamily and investigator's statements that he had a
tendency to flash his cash around,and almost anyone could have seen him as
a potential mark. The problem Irun into is we know nothing happened at

(01:05:06):
the trailer, So either you robhim somewhere else, and then what you
use his driver's license to determine wherehe lives, and then you take a
shot at showing up there assuming noone will notice. That's a hell of
a bold move. At the endof the day, you can talk yourself
round and round in circles trying tofind a threat of logic in this messed

(01:05:29):
up, broken puzzle of a case. It is infuriating, and mostly because
we're missing parts of the story.I know police always hang on to certain
details, but they're either hanging onto a lot of them here or they
don't have the answers either. Weknow the last call made on Bill's phone
is five PM, but what timedid he go to Sonic? It's never

(01:05:51):
stated. There's an ATM receipt andsurveillance footage at the bank. What time
did he go there? Was healone? Said? We know he went
to a paint store in Norman andspent around three thousand dollars? What did
he buy? When did he go? Was he with anyone? Was this
normal for him to do? Again? We simply don't know. I think

(01:06:15):
at the end of the day,it's quite clear that Bill was the victim
of foul play, whether people heknew or total strangers. He was likely
killed for his money, and thenhis killers took his trucks and sold off
his equipment and went on with theirlives looking for their next victim. Unfortunately,
I believe this case is unlikely tobreak open until someone either identifies the

(01:06:38):
man in the surveillance photos or somepiece of evidence taken by police eventually matches
someone. It's been nearly thirteen yearsnow since Bill Shipley mysteriously vanished, and
police seemed no closer to providing anyanswers nor naming a suspect. Someone out
there has the answers. Someone outthere could provide this family with the information

(01:07:00):
they need to bring their son andbrother home to give him a proper burial.
For some reason, these people haven'tcome forward yet, but one never
knows what might change tomorrow. Withoutsomeone doing what's right, new evidence being
discovered, or an outright confession,the disappearance of Bill Shipley will remain open,

(01:07:23):
unsolved, and growing colder. Ifyou're looking for more information about the
disappearance of Bill Dwayne Shipley, therehonestly aren't a lot of great sources out

(01:07:43):
there. For this episode, themost reliable sources were The Daily Oklahoma and
News on six. If you haveany information about the disappearance of Bill Dwayne
Shipley, please contact the McLean Countysheriff Griff's office at four zero five five
two seven two one four one.His case is number zero one one dash

(01:08:11):
zero eight one four zero three five. You can also contact Oklahoma City Crime
Stoppers at four zero five two threefive seven three zero zero, or by
visiting their website at okccrimetips dot com. What do you believe happened? Tweet

(01:08:34):
me at Tracevpod, email me attrace Evidencepod at gmail dot com, or
comment in the Facebook group. Justa quick reminder if you're planning to attend
crime Con this year in Nashville fromMay thirty first through June second, use
promo code trace at crimecon dot comto save ten percent on your pass.

(01:08:56):
That's promo code Trace at Crimecon dotcom. Now, I'd like to take
a moment to thank our amazing Patreonproducers, without whom Trace Evidence would not
be possible. A massive thank youto Andrew Guarino, An m Bertram,
Camellia Tyler, Christine Greco, DannyRenee, Denise Dingsdale, Desiree, Laura,

(01:09:25):
Donna Buttram, Deanni Dyson, JenniferWinkler, Justin Snyder, Carol Morland,
Ka Why, Lars Jensen, Vangelleslie B, Lisa Hopson, Madison
La Julier, Melissa Brakhuisen, NickMohar, Sheers, ROBERTA Jansen, Ruth

(01:09:50):
Stacy Finnegan, Stephanie Joyner, TomRadford, and wend Oregon. I want
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(01:10:13):
dot com, slash Trace Evidence,or click the support option on the official
website at trace Dashevidence dot com.This concludes our look into the twenty eleven
disappearance of Bill Shipley, a frustratingyet extremely solvable case. If only someone
out there with information could find itin their heart to come forward. You

(01:10:35):
can even submit that information anonymously.You don't have to put your name on
the line. I want to thankyou all again for listening, and I
hope you'll join me next week foranother unsolved case on the next episode of
Trace Evidence to