WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Rex Terrell [From the Archives] 0:00:46.550 --> 0:00:47.290 School of Humans. 0:00:49.300 --> 0:00:53.060 Helen Gone Murder Line actively investigates cold case murders in 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.640 an effort to raise public awareness, invite witnesses to come forward, 0:00:57.020 --> 0:01:00.220 and present evidence that could potentially be further investigated by 0:01:00.300 --> 0:01:04.740 law enforcement. While we value insights from family and community members, 0:01:05.060 --> 0:01:08.140 their statements should not be considered evidence and point to 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.440 the challenges of verifying facts inherent in cold cases. We 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.230 remind listeners that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty 0:01:16.270 --> 0:01:19.290 in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast is 0:01:19.350 --> 0:01:22.330 intended to state or imply that anyone who has not 0:01:22.370 --> 0:01:25.570 been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. 0:01:26.310 --> 0:01:27.070 Thanks for listening. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:35.340 In the early morning hours of July 30th, 1977, Charles 0:01:35.540 --> 0:01:38.580 Alvin Boatwright was hanging out with his cousin Ronnie Lewis 0:01:39.100 --> 0:01:41.730 at the home of another cousin of theirs named Loy 0:01:41.770 --> 0:01:46.580 Harriman in Wesley, Arkansas. According to police statements, the three 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.760 cousins stayed up all night, drinking beer and catching up. 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:51.360 They were having a good. 0:01:51.260 --> 0:01:54.320 Time, and early in the morning, they decided to go 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:58.000 fishing in an area called War Eagle, which is about 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.900 22 miles away. At around 5 a.m., they piled into Charles' 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.660 truck and started driving, but they needed some food. So 0:02:05.830 --> 0:02:08.440 on the route, they decided to stop by the Frederick 0:02:08.470 --> 0:02:11.170 7-Eleven to buy some hot dogs to roast during their 0:02:11.210 --> 0:02:11.690 fishing trip. 0:02:12.620 --> 0:02:14.420 The Frederick's Grocery and Service. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.010 Station was located at the intersection of Highway 68 and 0:02:18.010 --> 0:02:22.190 23 in the northwest portion of Huntsville, Arkansas. In a 0:02:22.270 --> 0:02:25.670 small town, it's a popular destination to get early morning 0:02:25.710 --> 0:02:29.670 gas or late night snacks. And back in 1977, it 0:02:29.710 --> 0:02:35.170 was open 24 hours a day. As Charles, Loy, and 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.200 Ronnie pulled up to the store, two women pulled up 0:02:38.260 --> 0:02:38.880 right behind them. 0:02:39.830 --> 0:02:42.630 Charles told police they talked to the two women briefly. 0:02:43.410 --> 0:02:45.430 The two women were driving a Jeep and had a 0:02:45.490 --> 0:02:47.710 sick pig in the back of their car that was sedated. 0:02:49.010 --> 0:02:51.350 One of the women made a comment about taking the 0:02:51.370 --> 0:02:55.390 sick pig to the vet. And as they were chatting, Loy, Charles, 0:02:55.430 --> 0:02:58.290 and the other woman walked into the store together and, 0:02:58.330 --> 0:03:02.460 according to Charles, walked back toward the meat counter. The 0:03:02.500 --> 0:03:04.480 way that the store was laid out was that there 0:03:04.500 --> 0:03:05.520 was a checkout. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:06.900 Counter located in the middle of the store. 0:03:07.590 --> 0:03:10.840 It's U-shaped with a cash register and stools inside it. 0:03:11.870 --> 0:03:15.570 At first, they couldn't see anyone inside the store. But 0:03:15.630 --> 0:03:18.290 then Charles said that as he got closer to the 0:03:18.330 --> 0:03:21.780 checkout area, while the other woman and Ronnie were following 0:03:21.810 --> 0:03:25.160 behind them, Louie said it looks like someone is hurt 0:03:25.220 --> 0:03:28.780 up there. At that point, Charles said that he walked 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.400 up to the left side of the register and saw 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:32.320 a man's. 0:03:32.100 --> 0:03:32.960 Feet sticking out. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.640 The man was 20-year-old University of Arkansas student Rex Terrell, 0:03:38.020 --> 0:03:41.610 who worked the overnight shift at Frederick's. He was lying 0:03:41.690 --> 0:03:45.170 in a pool of blood and, according to the police report, 0:03:45.770 --> 0:03:49.490 flouncing around, trying to get up. He was gasping for breath. 0:03:50.670 --> 0:03:53.340 It looked like Rex had been shot multiple times. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.560 One of the women tried to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:03:58.800 but it was too late. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.920 He died there on the floor of that gas station 0:04:02.260 --> 0:04:05.480 in a pool of his own blood. While they were 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.950 trying to save Rex, his co-worker Sally Dobson showed up 0:04:08.990 --> 0:04:11.890 to start her shift. She told police she got there 0:04:12.030 --> 0:04:17.010 at around 5.40 or 5.45 a.m. Sally told police that 0:04:17.170 --> 0:04:18.790 one of the women in the Jeep stopped her as 0:04:18.850 --> 0:04:20.890 she was coming in and told her there. 0:04:20.790 --> 0:04:22.400 Was a boy in there hurt really bad. 0:04:22.970 --> 0:04:25.660 And that's when she said she saw Rex laying on 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.220 the floor and saw all the blood. The police asked 0:04:29.260 --> 0:04:33.050 Sally if she noticed anything unusual about the register. She 0:04:33.150 --> 0:04:36.030 said that it was fixed like she would fix it 0:04:36.110 --> 0:04:38.730 if she had to leave for a short while. She 0:04:38.790 --> 0:04:42.550 said there was nothing unusual about that setup. She told 0:04:42.590 --> 0:04:45.650 police afterwards that Rex had set the register up like 0:04:45.690 --> 0:04:49.570 that before, but then there's no more detail about that. 0:04:50.130 --> 0:04:53.430 So I wonder why Rex and Sally would have made 0:04:53.470 --> 0:04:55.210 the decision to leave the register that way. 0:04:55.310 --> 0:04:58.810 Unfortunately, there's no more follow-up about this in the police report. 0:04:59.780 --> 0:05:02.900 And Sally told police something else. She said that she 0:05:02.940 --> 0:05:06.480 believed that the store's owner, Mr. Frederick, had decided that 0:05:06.540 --> 0:05:09.060 this would be the last weekend that the store stayed 0:05:09.140 --> 0:05:12.340 open all night. but there's nothing more about that decision 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:14.960 either or why it was made. Was it just a 0:05:15.020 --> 0:05:18.380 practical decision or could it have had something to do 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.670 with safety? And police noted that nothing appeared to have 0:05:21.710 --> 0:05:24.790 been taken from the store. So if robbery wasn't the motive, 0:05:25.350 --> 0:05:29.650 what was? Sally and all the rest of Rex's coworkers, 0:05:29.910 --> 0:05:32.390 as well as his family, friends, and the whole community 0:05:32.470 --> 0:05:36.120 wanted to know who would want to shoot a likable, kind, 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:40.350 and hardworking young man with seemingly no enemies and leave 0:05:40.410 --> 0:05:42.930 him there to die in a pool of his own blood. 0:05:45.070 --> 0:05:45.990 I'm Katherine Townsend. 0:05:46.590 --> 0:05:49.450 Over the past seven years of making my true crime podcast, 0:05:49.490 --> 0:05:51.890 Hell and Gone, I've learned that there is no such 0:05:51.930 --> 0:05:55.460 thing as a small town where murder never happens. I've 0:05:55.490 --> 0:05:58.300 received hundreds of messages from people all around the country 0:05:58.840 --> 0:06:01.680 asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.420 their families, and their communities. If you have a case 0:06:05.460 --> 0:06:07.710 you'd like me and my team to look into, You 0:06:07.740 --> 0:06:09.390 can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone 0:06:09.430 --> 0:06:10.270 Murder Line at 678-744-6145. 0:06:10.270 --> 0:06:10.660 That's 678-744-6145. 0:06:10.670 --> 0:06:14.390 Or you can send us a message on Instagram at hellandgonepod. 0:06:14.410 --> 0:06:16.160 This is Hell and Gone Murder Line. 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.100 Thank you. 0:07:09.280 --> 0:07:11.710 Police rushed to the scene and talked to the witnesses, 0:07:12.220 --> 0:07:15.470 the women with the sick pig and the three cousins, Ronnie, Boy, 0:07:15.610 --> 0:07:19.390 and Charles. Ronnie told pretty much the same story as. 0:07:19.390 --> 0:07:19.910 The other guys. 0:07:20.430 --> 0:07:22.850 He said that Charles had come running out of the 0:07:22.890 --> 0:07:25.160 gas station and gotten him and said there was a 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:27.260 boy in the store that had been hurt real bad. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.360 Ronnie said, quote, I went into the store and saw 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.460 the boy lying in a pool of blood. He kept 0:07:33.500 --> 0:07:35.770 trying to get up and we had to hold him 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.550 down as we thought that that would be the best 0:07:37.590 --> 0:07:49.720 thing for him. Police reported that Rex was wearing a 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.770 Levi's brown belt with a gold buckle and a white 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.170 and blue and red check shirt, and that he was 0:07:55.210 --> 0:07:57.530 lying on his back, about six feet away from the 0:07:57.550 --> 0:08:00.930 checkout counter, with his left arm folded across his chest. 0:08:01.710 --> 0:08:04.470 The report noted that Rex's clothing was not in disarray 0:08:04.610 --> 0:08:11.850 or torn, and that the scene showed, quote, In fact, 0:08:12.130 --> 0:08:15.510 other than Rex's body, there were no real signs of 0:08:15.570 --> 0:08:17.330 a physical struggle in the store at all. 0:08:17.930 --> 0:08:19.470 It didn't look like a fight had broken out. 0:08:20.030 --> 0:08:22.950 Someone had walked in and for some reason decided to 0:08:23.010 --> 0:08:28.020 shoot Rex, and police needed to figure out why. They 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.620 determined that Rex had been shot multiple times, once in 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.340 the left side, once in the shoulder, and once in 0:08:34.380 --> 0:08:37.980 the arm. And near the body, they found three expended. 0:08:37.710 --> 0:08:42.720 38 caliber cartridges with the brand name Remington Peters. When 0:08:42.780 --> 0:08:45.940 police were talking to the witnesses, all of their stories 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.740 were basically exactly the same. But before they left the scene, 0:08:50.260 --> 0:08:53.610 Ronnie told police that Loy and Charles had mentioned seeing 0:08:53.650 --> 0:08:58.970 a car, a black 1971 Camaro or Firebird, headed from 0:08:59.010 --> 0:09:01.870 the direction of the store going east on Highway 68 0:09:01.870 --> 0:09:02.630 toward Huntsville. 0:09:03.500 --> 0:09:07.140 In addition to the Camaro, police were also exploring. 0:09:06.700 --> 0:09:09.720 Leads on other vehicles in the area and looking to 0:09:09.780 --> 0:09:12.380 talk to anyone who went into or came by the 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:13.040 store that night. 0:09:13.680 --> 0:09:16.640 And it didn't take long to find them. A lot 0:09:16.680 --> 0:09:17.220 of people had. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:18.840 Come in and out of the store on the night 0:09:18.900 --> 0:09:24.500 Rex was shot, including some police officers. Carl Richardson Goodman Jr. 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.060 told police that he and another officer went into Frederick's 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:32.020 at approximately 3.20 a.m. Carl said that they went to 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.040 the store to exchange some milk that they had bought 0:09:34.060 --> 0:09:37.580 from Fredericks that was for some reason undrinkable. He said 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.140 they spoke briefly to Rex and noticed that his eyes 0:09:40.300 --> 0:09:43.720 were bloodshot. But he said they only talked about exchanging 0:09:43.740 --> 0:09:47.570 the milk, and then the officers left. Mike Atwell, a 0:09:47.610 --> 0:09:50.650 Madison County deputy, said that he had also been on 0:09:50.690 --> 0:09:53.930 duty the night of the shooting. According to police records, 0:09:54.450 --> 0:09:56.450 He was one of the officers who responded to a 0:09:56.470 --> 0:09:59.790 call about a body earlier that night, which he said 0:09:59.870 --> 0:10:02.430 ended up just being a drunk person. He said by 0:10:02.470 --> 0:10:04.640 the time police had dealt with that drama and got 0:10:04.680 --> 0:10:08.500 the drunk person under control, it was 4.43 a.m., according 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:08.720 to the. 0:10:08.680 --> 0:10:09.480 Police log sheet. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.120 This is a small town, so if you wanted to 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.260 buy early morning gas, Frederick's was one of the only 0:10:16.310 --> 0:10:19.550 stations in town. Mike said in his statement he is 0:10:19.590 --> 0:10:22.970 a gas-conscious person, always checking the gas levels in his cruiser. 0:10:23.540 --> 0:10:25.620 So he thought about buying gas from Frederick's and was 0:10:25.660 --> 0:10:28.100 kind of looking in the direction of the 7-Eleven store 0:10:28.500 --> 0:10:29.360 as he went past it. 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:31.750 But in the end, he decided against it. 0:10:32.820 --> 0:10:35.220 He said that he was driving past Frederick's at around 0:10:35.220 --> 0:10:38.630 4.55 a.m. And he said that he noticed a van 0:10:38.690 --> 0:10:42.210 parked there. Mike said he didn't notice any movement inside 0:10:42.250 --> 0:10:42.630 the store. 0:10:43.130 --> 0:10:43.490 But then. 0:10:43.770 --> 0:10:46.180 at around 6 a.m., he got the call about the 0:10:46.220 --> 0:10:49.480 shooting at Frederick's and responded to the scene. That's when 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.180 he remembered seeing the van. Police tried to track the 0:10:53.220 --> 0:10:57.100 van down. In police reports, it says that officers tracked 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.280 two brown vans that had been in the area at 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.040 the time, but they figured out that neither of them 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.110 were connected to the crime. A few days later, on Tuesday, 0:11:06.210 --> 0:11:09.600 August 2nd, Sheriff Ralph Baker told a local paper, the 0:11:09.620 --> 0:11:13.940 Springfield News Leader, that police had no leads. He said, quote, 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.960 we don't have anything good going at all, end quote. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.230 And he stated that they had no suspects. When it 0:11:21.270 --> 0:11:25.370 came to motive, Sheriff Baker told a local newspaper that 0:11:25.430 --> 0:11:28.110 although there was no sign that the Frederick's Register had 0:11:28.130 --> 0:11:31.230 been tampered with, The police had a theory that the 0:11:31.290 --> 0:11:33.470 shooter may have come in there to rob the store 0:11:33.830 --> 0:11:37.950 and had, quote, gotten scared off. According to the documents 0:11:37.990 --> 0:11:41.290 we were able to obtain via FOIA, Rex was shot 0:11:41.350 --> 0:11:44.180 in the arm, the shoulder, and the left side with 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.380 a high-caliber weapon. Whoever shot him seemed to have made 0:11:48.420 --> 0:11:52.540 a decision at some point to finish the job. Sheriff 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.740 Ralph Baker told the Madison County Record that the victim 0:11:55.790 --> 0:11:56.450 was shot with a. 0:11:56.430 --> 0:11:56.710 357 or. 0:11:56.690 --> 0:12:02.160 38 caliber weapon But what if robbery wasn't the motive? 0:12:02.940 --> 0:12:10.060 Could this have been personal? Rex Terrell was born on 0:12:10.140 --> 0:12:14.340 January 13, 1957. He had three brothers and a sister, 0:12:14.620 --> 0:12:18.020 and everyone seemed to love him. Police interviewed a lot 0:12:18.050 --> 0:12:20.390 of people who knew Rex, and none of them said 0:12:20.430 --> 0:12:22.690 they could think of any reason why anyone would want 0:12:22.710 --> 0:12:25.490 to hurt him. He was a hardworking student at the 0:12:25.530 --> 0:12:29.150 University of Arkansas and worked several jobs to make ends meet. 0:12:29.500 --> 0:12:32.770 including at a local poultry plant and the job at Frederick's. 0:12:33.630 --> 0:12:36.330 His family was fairly new to the area. They lived 0:12:36.370 --> 0:12:38.810 in Florida for years and had all moved to Huntsville 0:12:39.010 --> 0:12:47.800 shortly before Rex was killed. Rex had no local known enemies. 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.640 So police wondered, what was Rex doing before he came 0:12:51.700 --> 0:12:54.820 in for his shift? Did something happen earlier that night? 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.340 And they found out that the night he was shot, 0:12:57.890 --> 0:13:01.130 Rex had a double date. Rex went out with his friend, 0:13:01.510 --> 0:13:06.360 Jim Patnaud, and Jim's girlfriend, Susan Geerman, and Jim's sister, 0:13:06.680 --> 0:13:10.940 Debbie Pierce. Susan told police that around 6.30 p.m. that 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.240 the four of them went to the 71 drive-in in Springdale, Arkansas. 0:13:14.860 --> 0:13:17.030 She said they only caught the last 20 minutes of 0:13:17.050 --> 0:13:20.550 the first movie and then watched a movie called Sugarland Express. 0:13:21.470 --> 0:13:23.770 She said they didn't stay for the last feature. They 0:13:23.810 --> 0:13:26.970 were just hanging out and drinking beers, and then Jim, Debbie, 0:13:27.030 --> 0:13:30.690 and Susan split a joint. but Susan told police that 0:13:30.810 --> 0:13:35.180 Rex refused any marijuana. Then they piled in Rex's car 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.760 to get back to Huntsville because Rex had to start 0:13:37.780 --> 0:13:41.700 his shift at Frederick's. He normally worked the 12.30 a.m. 0:13:41.740 --> 0:13:45.440 to 6.30 a.m. shift, but he had spoken to his boss, Mr. Frederick, 0:13:45.540 --> 0:13:47.910 that night and asked if he could come to work 0:13:47.950 --> 0:13:49.870 an hour late because he had a date. 0:13:50.730 --> 0:13:52.090 His boss said that was fine. 0:13:52.930 --> 0:13:56.010 On the way back to Huntsville, Susan said that Rex 0:13:56.070 --> 0:13:58.950 dropped her and Jim off at Jim's house She said 0:13:58.970 --> 0:14:01.340 they got into Jim's car and went up to Frederick's 0:14:01.370 --> 0:14:04.020 to get some gas. She said they hung around for 0:14:04.060 --> 0:14:06.740 a few minutes. She said Rex was there too, talking 0:14:06.780 --> 0:14:10.440 about being early for work. She estimated that at that time, 0:14:10.560 --> 0:14:13.800 it was about 1.20 a.m. That was the last time 0:14:14.020 --> 0:14:17.450 she saw Rex. Susan said that Jim took her home 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.950 after that. And when she talked to him the next day, 0:14:20.530 --> 0:14:23.070 he told her that after dropping her off, he had 0:14:23.110 --> 0:14:25.550 driven back to Frederick's and had a sandwich and talked 0:14:25.570 --> 0:14:29.260 to Rex for a while. Police asked Susan about the 0:14:29.300 --> 0:14:32.860 various vehicles witnessed near the gas station. They asked if 0:14:32.980 --> 0:14:36.380 she knew anyone in town who owned a Buick Firebird, Camaro, 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.240 or Trans Am. She mentioned a local woman who owned 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.020 a black Firebird, but the description of the vehicle sounded 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.520 very distinctive, gold pinstriping and an eagle on the hood, 0:14:47.100 --> 0:14:55.590 and neither of the witnesses had mentioned those details. Police 0:14:55.650 --> 0:14:58.650 talked to Jim's sister, Debbie Pierce, She said that the 0:14:58.710 --> 0:15:01.050 date with Rex had been a setup by her brother. 0:15:01.770 --> 0:15:03.300 She said that Rex picked her up. 0:15:03.300 --> 0:15:06.220 At around 9.05 p.m., and that at that point, they 0:15:06.260 --> 0:15:08.680 stopped at the Frederick store, where they bought some beer 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.760 and had a few drinks. This was when, according to Debbie, 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.220 Rex asked his boss if he could come in an 0:15:14.260 --> 0:15:17.300 hour late, and his boss agreed. She said that Rex 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.500 drove her back home at around 1.15 a.m. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:20.560 And walked her to the door. 0:15:21.340 --> 0:15:23.870 At that time, Debbie said he told her he had 0:15:23.910 --> 0:15:25.510 a good time, but that he had to get back 0:15:25.550 --> 0:15:29.530 to work, and he left. But there is another detail 0:15:29.670 --> 0:15:34.640 about Debbie Pierce in this police report. Debbie Pierce was married. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.460 Debbie Pierce, who Rex went out with on a date 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.880 a few hours before he was murdered, was legally married 0:15:52.020 --> 0:15:55.450 but separated from her husband. She told police they had 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.690 a young son. and that although they had split, there 0:15:58.730 --> 0:16:02.350 was no animosity between her and her husband. There was 0:16:02.530 --> 0:16:05.790 no reason to believe that he was involved in Rex's killing. 0:16:07.210 --> 0:16:09.850 So was this random or personal? 0:16:10.430 --> 0:16:12.790 Either way, once word got out that there was a 0:16:12.850 --> 0:16:17.450 killer on the loose, local residents were terrified. Sheriff Ralph 0:16:17.490 --> 0:16:20.770 Baker told multiple sources that he was closing down a 0:16:20.930 --> 0:16:23.450 local Girl Scouts camp that was near the store and 0:16:23.550 --> 0:16:28.080 sending 98 girls home as a precautionary measure. The Rex 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:32.000 Terrell Reward Fund was established August 10, 1977, by the 0:16:32.050 --> 0:16:36.590 American Savings and Loan Association in Huntsville. Local businesses donated money. 0:16:36.990 --> 0:16:38.870 The community came together. 0:16:38.590 --> 0:16:43.210 To support Rex's family. As we said earlier, Rex was 0:16:43.290 --> 0:16:46.030 very well liked in the community, but there had been 0:16:46.210 --> 0:16:50.010 one incident at a nearby softball field, Huntsville Softball Park. 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.420 In May of 1977, Rex was there when a fight 0:16:54.460 --> 0:16:57.570 broke out. Rex's friend Jim, who was out with him 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.110 on the double date the night Rex was shot, told 0:17:00.210 --> 0:17:03.070 police that a man named Ronnie Gwynn was drunk at 0:17:03.090 --> 0:17:05.470 the park and that after the fight broke out, Ronnie 0:17:05.510 --> 0:17:08.730 was arrested. A trooper named Tom Brown of the Arkansas 0:17:08.750 --> 0:17:11.740 State Police arrested Ronnie and took him to the sheriff's office. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.020 Jim told police that on July 31st, the day after 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.580 Rex's shooting, he was with a friend of his named 0:17:18.620 --> 0:17:21.980 George Edgeman. They were hanging out at Frederick's when Ronnie 0:17:22.020 --> 0:17:24.460 Gwynn came into the business and said that his boss 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.500 had bought him a. 357 Magnum and he wasn't going 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:31.520 to take any shit from anybody anymore. At that point, 0:17:31.970 --> 0:17:34.250 Jim said that Ronnie was talking about the incident in 0:17:34.290 --> 0:17:37.350 May at the ballpark and that Jim said, quote, I 0:17:37.390 --> 0:17:39.110 heard today that a guy had been shot and that 0:17:39.250 --> 0:17:41.940 everybody on the Frederick softball team was going to get it. 0:17:42.810 --> 0:17:45.570 Since this thing happened the other night at Frederick's about Rex, 0:17:45.970 --> 0:17:48.960 I'm really scared. I was with Rex the night before 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:49.660 he was killed. 0:17:50.170 --> 0:17:52.350 End quote. So it seemed as though. 0:17:52.250 --> 0:17:55.090 Jim was concerned that maybe Rex's shooting had happened in 0:17:55.130 --> 0:18:00.230 retaliation to the ballpark incident, that maybe Frederick's employees. 0:17:59.610 --> 0:18:00.760 Were being targeted somehow. 0:18:02.120 --> 0:18:05.260 Police talked to Jim's friend, George Edgeman, who backed up 0:18:05.300 --> 0:18:07.840 his story and told police that he had gone down 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.100 to Frederick's at around 7 p.m. on Sunday, the 31st 0:18:11.140 --> 0:18:15.320 of July, the day after Rex was killed. George said, quote, 0:18:15.340 --> 0:18:17.330 And he repeated what Jim had said, that Ronnie was 0:18:17.340 --> 0:18:18.350 telling them that he had a. 0:18:18.310 --> 0:18:19.870 357 Magnum now and nobody was going to touch him again. 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:42.600 But then George said that Ronnie behaved as though he 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.500 had no animosity. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.580 Against Tom Brown, the trooper who arrested him. 0:18:47.380 --> 0:18:50.600 And according to police reports, it doesn't seem like Ronnie 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.120 had made any threats about Rex specifically. Unfortunately, this is 0:18:55.360 --> 0:18:58.900 one of just many times in the police report where 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.400 it seems as though investigative leads were just completely dropped 0:19:02.420 --> 0:19:05.200 because there's no more about the ballpark incident or any 0:19:05.260 --> 0:19:10.930 follow-up after this. Police knew that Rex had been shot 0:19:10.990 --> 0:19:14.040 multiple times and that the manner of death was homicide. 0:19:14.860 --> 0:19:17.220 The sheriff made a comment in the newspaper about the 0:19:17.260 --> 0:19:21.200 bullet being from a. 38 caliber or. 357, and police 0:19:21.300 --> 0:19:24.640 did try to track down the murder weapon. On Sunday, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.180 July 31st at around 1 p.m., the employee of a 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.440 tire shop about 300 yards west of the homicide scene 0:19:31.860 --> 0:19:35.310 called police to tell them they found a. 38 special 0:19:35.370 --> 0:19:39.100 cartridge case outside their business. Police took the casing in 0:19:39.120 --> 0:19:42.940 for testing, but were unable to find anything of evidentiary value. 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:48.090 They pulled two bullets from Rex's body, but those bullets 0:19:48.130 --> 0:19:51.990 were described as mutilated. And even though Rex had been 0:19:52.050 --> 0:19:55.750 shot three times, they could not find that third bullet. 0:20:02.940 --> 0:20:05.680 Police continued to look for anyone in the community who 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:07.880 saw anything out of the ordinary on the night of 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:11.320 the shooting. A man came forward who said he was 0:20:11.360 --> 0:20:13.380 headed to work in the early morning hours of July 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.490 30th at the Huntsville Ready Mix Cement Company, which was 0:20:16.550 --> 0:20:20.270 located just across the highway from Frederick's. The man said 0:20:20.330 --> 0:20:22.750 as he was waiting to make a left turn into 0:20:22.790 --> 0:20:25.950 the driveway of his workplace, he was waiting on a 0:20:26.010 --> 0:20:26.930 slow moving vehicle. 0:20:27.330 --> 0:20:28.680 And while he was waiting, he. 0:20:28.620 --> 0:20:31.180 Glanced over to Frederick's and saw a boy at the 0:20:31.220 --> 0:20:33.260 front door of Frederick's looking out of the store. 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:49.980 He said that he noticed vehicles parked by the store. 0:20:50.660 --> 0:20:53.640 One of them was a white Chevrolet pickup around a 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:57.740 1966 model. He also noticed a Toyota four-wheel drive vehicle 0:20:58.260 --> 0:21:01.060 and a green Nova that he thought was Rex's parked 0:21:01.100 --> 0:21:04.290 in front of Frederick's. This sounded like it could be 0:21:04.310 --> 0:21:07.210 a promising lead, but from the description of the vehicles 0:21:07.250 --> 0:21:10.010 that we got from the police reports, reading through this, 0:21:10.170 --> 0:21:12.750 it seems likely that he was describing the two women 0:21:12.810 --> 0:21:15.630 and the three cousins since they were driving a pickup 0:21:15.650 --> 0:21:16.510 truck and a Jeep. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.200 Even though this happened. 0:21:18.860 --> 0:21:22.060 In a pre-surveillance camera era and even in the early 0:21:22.100 --> 0:21:24.920 morning hours, it struck me reading this, there was a 0:21:25.050 --> 0:21:28.630 lot of activity happening in and around this store. There 0:21:28.670 --> 0:21:32.170 were witnesses, including police officers, who came to the store 0:21:32.250 --> 0:21:34.430 or drove by all the way up until a few 0:21:34.470 --> 0:21:37.790 minutes before 5 a.m. All of them said it seemed 0:21:37.830 --> 0:21:41.370 like Rex was fine. With so much time accounted for 0:21:41.610 --> 0:21:43.890 and the fact that Rex was bleeding to death on 0:21:43.910 --> 0:21:46.410 the floor when the three cousins and two women arrived, 0:21:47.100 --> 0:21:50.640 It seems very likely that whatever happened to Rex happened 0:21:50.780 --> 0:21:52.380 a few minutes before they got there. 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.240 Police continued to look for the Camaro. 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:00.810 They interviewed a man who owned a 1977 black Camaro 0:22:01.030 --> 0:22:04.030 with no pinstriping. He said that he had been at 0:22:04.070 --> 0:22:06.990 Frederick's on the 29th at approximately 10.30 p.m. 0:22:07.290 --> 0:22:09.950 With a friend of his. He said they got a Coke. 0:22:10.470 --> 0:22:12.490 He dropped his friend off at home, and then he 0:22:12.540 --> 0:22:13.310 was home. 0:22:13.150 --> 0:22:13.370 By 10.45 p.m. 0:22:15.250 --> 0:22:18.530 The man, David Gaskell, said that after that he stayed 0:22:18.570 --> 0:22:21.620 there and did not go out again. He said he 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:24.700 didn't know Rex Terrell. He said he did know Rex's sister, 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.240 but he said he had no involvement in anything that. 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.620 Happened to Rex. David did give police. 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:33.690 The names of some other people who owned similar cars, 0:22:34.230 --> 0:22:37.090 including two people who owned black Trans Ams. 0:22:37.210 --> 0:22:39.030 And a woman who owned a blue 1976 Camaro. 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.680 Natalie Wilhite was another worker at Frederick's who gave an 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:48.480 interview about Rex. She said, quote, I'm very upset over 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.820 Rex being killed because I can't understand why someone would 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.420 want to do that to Rex. He was quiet and 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:56.960 I thought he didn't have any enemies at all, end quote. 0:22:57.820 --> 0:23:01.010 Natalie said that Rex had invited her to go water 0:23:01.030 --> 0:23:03.930 skiing with him on the Saturday before the murder, but 0:23:04.110 --> 0:23:06.730 she said she ended up not going. She said she 0:23:06.810 --> 0:23:09.950 never ended up going out with him socially. She said 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:11.800 that on the night of the shooting, she had gone 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:15.080 to a haunted house with some friends. After she and 0:23:15.100 --> 0:23:18.100 her friends got back to Huntsville, they went riding around 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:20.200 and stopped at Frederick's at around 3 a.m. 0:23:21.260 --> 0:23:23.600 She said that she was close to the store owner, Mr. 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:26.410 Frederick, and his family. She said while she was at 0:23:26.430 --> 0:23:28.730 the store that night, she talked to Rex and. 0:23:28.690 --> 0:23:29.330 Then went home. 0:23:30.290 --> 0:23:32.910 I mentioned her interview because police asked her something else. 0:23:32.950 --> 0:23:35.510 They asked her if she'd ever seen any drug dealing 0:23:35.610 --> 0:23:38.700