WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Rex Terrell 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.000 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.200 In the early morning hours of July thirtieth, nineteen seventy seven, 0:01:34.881 --> 0:01:38.280 Charles Alvin Botwright was hanging out with his cousin Ronnie 0:01:38.321 --> 0:01:41.401 Lewis at the home of another cousin of theirs named 0:01:41.441 --> 0:01:46.241 Lloyd Harryman in Wesley, Arkansas. According to police statements, the 0:01:46.321 --> 0:01:49.880 three cousins stayed up all night drinking beer and catching up. 0:01:50.321 --> 0:01:52.601 They were having a good time, and early in the 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.841 morning they decided to go fishing in an area called 0:01:55.921 --> 0:01:59.681 war Eagle, which is about twenty two miles away At 0:01:59.721 --> 0:02:03.201 around five am. They piled into Charles's truck and started driving, 0:02:03.641 --> 0:02:06.840 but they needed some food, so on the route they 0:02:06.881 --> 0:02:09.321 decided to stop by the Fredericks seven to eleven to 0:02:09.361 --> 0:02:11.800 buy some hot dogs to roast during their fishing trip. 0:02:12.561 --> 0:02:15.601 The Frederick's Grocery and Service station was located at the 0:02:15.641 --> 0:02:18.961 intersection of Highway sixty eight and twenty three in the 0:02:19.001 --> 0:02:23.400 northwest portion of Huntsville, Arkansas. In a small town, it's 0:02:23.441 --> 0:02:26.400 a popular destination to get early morning gas or late 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:29.801 night snacks, and back in nineteen seventy seven, it was 0:02:29.841 --> 0:02:35.121 opened twenty four hours a day. As Charles, Lloyd, and 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.201 Ronnie pulled up to the store, two women pulled up 0:02:38.281 --> 0:02:41.761 right behind them. Charles told police they talked to the 0:02:41.761 --> 0:02:45.121 two women briefly. The women were driving a Jeep and 0:02:45.201 --> 0:02:46.960 had a sick pig in the back of their car 0:02:47.041 --> 0:02:50.481 that was sedated. One of the women made a comment 0:02:50.561 --> 0:02:53.321 about taking the sick pig to the vet, and as 0:02:53.321 --> 0:02:56.681 they were chatting, Lloyd, Charles, and the other woman walked 0:02:56.681 --> 0:03:00.361 into the store together and according to Charles, walked back 0:03:00.401 --> 0:03:03.321 toward the meet counter. The way that the store was 0:03:03.401 --> 0:03:06.041 laid out was that there was a checkout counter located 0:03:06.081 --> 0:03:08.601 in the middle of the store. It's U shaped with 0:03:08.681 --> 0:03:12.881 a cash register in stools inside it. At first, they 0:03:12.921 --> 0:03:16.881 couldn't see anyone inside the store, but then Charles said 0:03:16.881 --> 0:03:19.801 that as he got closer to the checkout area, while 0:03:19.841 --> 0:03:23.641 the other woman and Ronnie were falling behind them, Lois said, 0:03:23.881 --> 0:03:27.161 it looks like someone is heard up there. At that point, 0:03:27.561 --> 0:03:29.641 Charles said that he walked up to the left side 0:03:29.681 --> 0:03:33.041 of the register and saw a man's feet sticking out. 0:03:33.761 --> 0:03:36.961 The man was twenty year old University of Arkansas student 0:03:37.041 --> 0:03:40.761 Rex Terrell, who worked the overnight shift at Frederick's. He 0:03:41.041 --> 0:03:44.321 was lying in a pool of blood and, according to 0:03:44.321 --> 0:03:48.281 the police report, flouncing around trying to get up. He 0:03:48.441 --> 0:03:52.001 was gasping for breath. It looked like Rex had been 0:03:52.041 --> 0:03:55.961 shot multiple times. One of the women tried to give 0:03:56.041 --> 0:03:58.881 him mouth to mouth resuscitation, but it was too late. 0:03:59.401 --> 0:04:01.881 He died there on the floor of that gas station 0:04:02.241 --> 0:04:05.481 in a pool of his own blood. While they were 0:04:05.521 --> 0:04:09.001 trying to save Rex, his coworker, Sally Dobson, showed up 0:04:09.001 --> 0:04:11.881 to start her shift. She told police she got there 0:04:11.961 --> 0:04:15.721 at around five forty or five forty five am. Sally 0:04:15.841 --> 0:04:18.161 told police that one of the women in the jeep 0:04:18.241 --> 0:04:20.601 stopped her as she was coming in and told her 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.081 there was a boy in there hurt really bad, and 0:04:23.121 --> 0:04:25.760 that's when she said she saw Rex laying on the 0:04:25.801 --> 0:04:29.601 floor and saw all the blood. The police asked Sally 0:04:29.681 --> 0:04:33.521 if she noticed anything unusual about the register. She said 0:04:33.681 --> 0:04:36.201 that it was fixed like she would fix it if 0:04:36.241 --> 0:04:38.960 she had to leave for a short while. She said 0:04:39.001 --> 0:04:42.960 there was nothing unusual about that setup. She told police 0:04:43.001 --> 0:04:46.281 afterwards that Rex had set the register up like that before, 0:04:47.081 --> 0:04:50.481 but then there's no more detail about that, so I 0:04:50.601 --> 0:04:54.001 wonder why Rex and Sally would have made the decision 0:04:54.041 --> 0:04:56.601 to leave the register that way. Unfortunately, there's no more 0:04:56.681 --> 0:05:00.361 follow up about this in the police report, and Sally 0:05:00.441 --> 0:05:03.361 told police something else. She said that she believed that 0:05:03.361 --> 0:05:06.921 the store's owner, mister Frederick, had decided that this would 0:05:06.961 --> 0:05:09.721 be the last weekend that the store stayed open all night. 0:05:10.561 --> 0:05:13.320 But there's nothing more about that decision either or why 0:05:13.361 --> 0:05:16.681 it was made. Was it just a practical decision or 0:05:17.121 --> 0:05:19.640 could it have had something to do with safety? And 0:05:19.721 --> 0:05:22.281 police noted that nothing appeared to have been taken from 0:05:22.321 --> 0:05:25.841 the store, So if robbery wasn't the motive, what was 0:05:27.401 --> 0:05:30.161 Sally and all the rest of Rex's coworkers, as well 0:05:30.201 --> 0:05:32.881 as his family, friends, and the whole community, wanted to 0:05:32.881 --> 0:05:36.241 know who would want to shoot a likable, kind and 0:05:36.401 --> 0:05:40.320 hard working young man with seemingly no enemies and leave 0:05:40.401 --> 0:05:43.001 him there to die in a pool of his own blood. 0:05:44.961 --> 0:05:48.161 I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past seven years of making 0:05:48.241 --> 0:05:51.281 my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there 0:05:51.321 --> 0:05:53.921 is no such thing as a small town where murder 0:05:54.081 --> 0:05:57.561 never happens. I've received hundreds of messages from people all 0:05:57.601 --> 0:06:00.801 around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder 0:06:00.841 --> 0:06:04.761 that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you 0:06:04.881 --> 0:06:06.521 have a case you'd like me and my team to 0:06:06.521 --> 0:06:08.881 look into, you can reach out to us at our 0:06:08.921 --> 0:06:11.601 Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four 0:06:11.681 --> 0:06:15.080 four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven 0:06:15.121 --> 0:06:18.880 four four six one four five, or you can send 0:06:18.921 --> 0:06:23.401 us a message on Instagram at Helen gonepod. This is 0:06:23.481 --> 0:07:10.801 Helen Gone Murder Line. Police rushed to the scene and 0:07:10.841 --> 0:07:13.361 talked to the witnesses, the women with a sick pig 0:07:13.401 --> 0:07:18.161 and the three cousins Ronnie, Boy and Charles. Ronnie told 0:07:18.201 --> 0:07:20.481 pretty much the same story as the other guys. He 0:07:20.681 --> 0:07:23.121 said that Charles had come running out of the gas 0:07:23.161 --> 0:07:25.401 station and gotten him and said there was a boy 0:07:25.441 --> 0:07:29.441 in the store that had been hurt real bad. Ronnie said, quote, 0:07:29.881 --> 0:07:32.041 I went into the store and saw the boy lying 0:07:32.041 --> 0:07:34.201 in a pool of blood. He kept trying to get up, 0:07:34.641 --> 0:07:36.681 and we had to hold him down as we thought 0:07:36.721 --> 0:07:39.481 that that would be the best thing for him. Charles 0:07:39.521 --> 0:07:41.521 said that one of the women was trying to give 0:07:41.561 --> 0:07:44.241 Rex mouth to mouth, but that he died right there 0:07:44.321 --> 0:07:49.201 before help arrived. End quote. Police reported that Rex was 0:07:49.241 --> 0:07:52.321 wearing a Levi's brown belt with a gold buckle and 0:07:52.361 --> 0:07:54.881 a white and blue and red check shirt, and that 0:07:54.961 --> 0:07:57.281 he was lying on his back about six feet away 0:07:57.321 --> 0:08:00.481 from the checkout counter, with his left arm folded across 0:08:00.481 --> 0:08:03.761 his chest. The report noted that Rex's clothing was not 0:08:03.841 --> 0:08:07.361 in disarray or torn, and that the scene showed quote 0:08:07.761 --> 0:08:11.881 no signs of any physical struggle end quote. In fact, 0:08:12.041 --> 0:08:15.481 other than Rex's body, there were no real signs of 0:08:15.521 --> 0:08:18.241 a physical struggle in the store at all. It didn't 0:08:18.241 --> 0:08:20.961 look like a fight had broken out. Someone had walked 0:08:21.001 --> 0:08:24.121 in and for some reason decided to shoot Rex, and 0:08:24.241 --> 0:08:29.161 police needed to figure out why. They determined that Rex 0:08:29.161 --> 0:08:32.361 had been shot multiple times, once in the left side, 0:08:32.680 --> 0:08:35.321 once in the shoulder, and once in the arm. And 0:08:35.401 --> 0:08:38.641 near the body, they found three expended thirty eight caliber 0:08:38.680 --> 0:08:43.320 cartridges with the brand name Remington Peters. When police were 0:08:43.321 --> 0:08:46.680 talking to the witnesses, all of their stories were basically 0:08:46.841 --> 0:08:50.681 exactly the same. But before they left the scene, Ronnie 0:08:50.680 --> 0:08:54.160 told police that Boy and Charles had mentioned seeing a car, 0:08:54.641 --> 0:08:58.761 a black nineteen seventy one Camaro or a Firebird headed 0:08:58.761 --> 0:09:01.241 from the direction of the store, going east on Highway 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:05.561 sixty eight toward Huntsville. In addition to the Camaro, police 0:09:05.560 --> 0:09:08.281 were also exploring leeds on other vehicles in the area 0:09:08.841 --> 0:09:11.841 and looking to talk to anyone who went into or 0:09:11.881 --> 0:09:14.401 came by the store that night, and it didn't take 0:09:14.481 --> 0:09:17.361 long to find them. A lot of people had come 0:09:17.401 --> 0:09:19.121 in and out of the store on the night Rex 0:09:19.201 --> 0:09:24.561 was shot, including some police officers. Carl Richardson Goodman Junior 0:09:24.841 --> 0:09:28.081 told police that he and another officer went into Frederick's 0:09:28.121 --> 0:09:31.961 at approximately three twenty am. Carl said that they went 0:09:31.961 --> 0:09:33.841 to the store to exchange the milk that they had 0:09:33.841 --> 0:09:37.241 bought from Fredericks that was for some reason undrinkable. He 0:09:37.361 --> 0:09:39.801 said they spoke briefly to Rex and noticed that his 0:09:39.881 --> 0:09:43.201 eyes were bloodshot, but he said they only talked about 0:09:43.241 --> 0:09:47.361 exchanging the milk and then the officers left Mike Atwell, 0:09:47.481 --> 0:09:50.521 a Madison County deputy, said that he had also been 0:09:50.521 --> 0:09:54.041 on duty the night of the shooting. According to police records, 0:09:54.441 --> 0:09:56.481 he was one of the officers who responded to a 0:09:56.521 --> 0:09:59.800 call about a body earlier that night, which he said 0:09:59.881 --> 0:10:02.440 ended up just being a drunk person. He said, by 0:10:02.481 --> 0:10:04.641 the time police had dealt with that drama and got 0:10:04.641 --> 0:10:07.560 the drunk person under control, it was four forty three 0:10:07.601 --> 0:10:11.800 am according to the police logsheet. This is a small town, 0:10:12.321 --> 0:10:15.560 so if you wanted to buy early morning gas, Fredericks 0:10:15.641 --> 0:10:18.561 was one of the only stations in town. Mike said 0:10:18.561 --> 0:10:21.321 in his statement he is a gas conscious person, always 0:10:21.401 --> 0:10:23.961 checking the gas levels in his cruiser, so he thought 0:10:24.001 --> 0:10:26.280 about buying gas from Fredericks and was kind of looking 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.601 in the direction of the seven to eleven store as 0:10:28.601 --> 0:10:31.281 he went past it, but in the end he decided 0:10:31.321 --> 0:10:34.841 against it. He said that he was driving past Fredericks 0:10:34.881 --> 0:10:37.441 at around four or fifty five am, and he said 0:10:37.481 --> 0:10:40.601 that he noticed a van parked there. Mike said he 0:10:40.641 --> 0:10:43.841 didn't notice any movement inside the store, but then at 0:10:43.841 --> 0:10:46.481 around six am, he got the call about the shooting 0:10:46.521 --> 0:10:49.601 at Frederick's and responded to the scene. That's when he 0:10:49.681 --> 0:10:53.761 remembered seeing the van. Police tried to track the van down. 0:10:54.161 --> 0:10:57.761 In police reports, it says that officers tracked two brown 0:10:57.881 --> 0:10:59.721 vans that had been in the area at the time, 0:11:00.201 --> 0:11:02.641 but they figured out that neither of them were connected 0:11:02.641 --> 0:11:06.761 to the crime. A few days later, on Tuesday, August second, 0:11:07.081 --> 0:11:10.761 Sheriff Ralph Baker told a local paper, the Springfield Newsleader, 0:11:11.001 --> 0:11:14.681 that police had no leads. He said, quote, we don't 0:11:14.681 --> 0:11:17.881 have anything good going at all end quote, and he 0:11:18.001 --> 0:11:22.201 stated that they had no suspects when it came to motive. 0:11:22.801 --> 0:11:26.161 Sheriff Baker told a local newspaper that although there was 0:11:26.241 --> 0:11:28.841 no sign that the Frederick's register had been tampered with, 0:11:29.441 --> 0:11:32.081 the police had a theory that the shooter may have 0:11:32.121 --> 0:11:35.041 come in there to rob the store and quote gotten 0:11:35.081 --> 0:11:38.601 scared off. According to the documents we were able to 0:11:38.601 --> 0:11:42.801 obtain via Foya, Rex was shot in the arm, the shoulder, 0:11:42.921 --> 0:11:46.441 and the left side with a high caliber weapon. Whoever 0:11:46.561 --> 0:11:49.361 shot him seemed to have made a decision at some 0:11:49.521 --> 0:11:53.641 point to finish the job. Sheriff Ralph Baker told the 0:11:53.681 --> 0:11:56.441 Madison County Record that the victim was shot with a 0:11:56.441 --> 0:12:00.481 three fifty seven or thirty eight caliber weapon. But what 0:12:00.641 --> 0:12:04.281 if robbery wasn't the motive? Could this have been personal? 0:12:08.601 --> 0:12:12.201 Rex Tarrell was born on January thirteenth, nineteen fifty seven. 0:12:12.601 --> 0:12:15.441 He had three brothers and a sister, and everyone seemed 0:12:15.481 --> 0:12:18.521 to love him. Police interviewed a lot of people who 0:12:18.601 --> 0:12:20.841 knew Rex, and none of them said they could think 0:12:20.881 --> 0:12:23.241 of any reason why anyone would want to hurt him. 0:12:23.721 --> 0:12:26.041 He was a hard working student at the University of 0:12:26.121 --> 0:12:30.001 Arkansas and worked several jobs to make ends meet, including 0:12:30.161 --> 0:12:32.881 at a local poultry plant and the job at Frederick's. 0:12:33.601 --> 0:12:36.361 His family was fairly new to the area. They lived 0:12:36.361 --> 0:12:38.800 in Florida for years and had all moved to Huntsville 0:12:38.961 --> 0:12:47.881 shortly before Rex was killed. Rex had no local known enemies, 0:12:48.481 --> 0:12:51.641 so police wondered what was Rex doing before he came 0:12:51.641 --> 0:12:54.841 in for his shift. Did something happen earlier that night? 0:12:55.321 --> 0:12:57.521 And they found out that the night he was shot, 0:12:57.841 --> 0:13:00.841 Rex had a double date. Rex went out with his 0:13:00.841 --> 0:13:06.041 friend Jim Patnaud and Jim's girlfriend Susan Gearman, and Jim's 0:13:06.081 --> 0:13:10.441 sister Debbie Pierce. Susan told police that around six thirty 0:13:10.481 --> 0:13:12.321 pm that the four of them went to the seventy 0:13:12.361 --> 0:13:15.761 one drive in in Springdale, Arkansas. She said they only 0:13:15.761 --> 0:13:18.201 caught the last twenty minutes of the first movie and 0:13:18.241 --> 0:13:21.881 then watched a movie called Sugarland Express. She said they 0:13:21.881 --> 0:13:24.401 didn't stay for the last feature. They were just hanging 0:13:24.401 --> 0:13:27.481 out and drinking beers, and then Jim, Debbie, and Susan 0:13:27.521 --> 0:13:31.561 split a joint, but Susan told police that Rex refused 0:13:31.601 --> 0:13:35.481 any marijuana. Then they piled in Rex's car to get 0:13:35.481 --> 0:13:38.160 back to Huntsville because Rex had to start his shift 0:13:38.161 --> 0:13:41.801 at Frederick's. He normally worked the twelve thirty am to 0:13:41.841 --> 0:13:44.721 six thirty am shift, but he had spoken to his boss, 0:13:44.761 --> 0:13:47.521 mister Frederick that night and asked if he could come 0:13:47.561 --> 0:13:49.921 to work an hour late because he had a date. 0:13:50.721 --> 0:13:53.601 His boss said that was fine. On the way back 0:13:53.601 --> 0:13:57.201 to Huntsville, Susan said that Rex dropped her and Jim 0:13:57.241 --> 0:13:59.921 off at Jim's house. She said they got into Jim's 0:13:59.921 --> 0:14:02.521 car and went up to Frederick's to get some gas. 0:14:02.841 --> 0:14:05.001 She said they hung around for a few minutes. She 0:14:05.041 --> 0:14:08.040 said Rex was there too, talking about being early for work. 0:14:08.641 --> 0:14:11.201 She estimated that at that time it was about one 0:14:11.321 --> 0:14:14.761 twenty am. That was the last time she saw Rex. 0:14:15.641 --> 0:14:18.481 Susan said that Jim took her home after that and 0:14:18.521 --> 0:14:21.041 when she talked to him the next day, he told 0:14:21.081 --> 0:14:23.561 her that after dropping her off, he had driven back 0:14:23.561 --> 0:14:25.961 to Fredericks and had a sandwich and talked to Rex 0:14:25.961 --> 0:14:30.201 for a while. Police asked Susan about the various vehicles 0:14:30.241 --> 0:14:33.401 witnessed near the gas station. They asked if she knew 0:14:33.401 --> 0:14:37.321 anyone in town who owned a Buick, Firebird, Camaro or Transam. 0:14:38.081 --> 0:14:41.161 She mentioned a local woman who owned a black Firebird, 0:14:41.441 --> 0:14:44.641 but the description of the vehicle sounded very distinctive, gold 0:14:44.681 --> 0:14:47.641 pinstriping and an eagle on the hood, and neither of 0:14:47.681 --> 0:14:56.641 the witnesses had mentioned those details. Police talked to Jim's sister, 0:14:56.761 --> 0:14:59.761 Debbie Pierce. She said that the date with Rex had 0:14:59.761 --> 0:15:02.601 been a setup by her brother. She said that Rex 0:15:02.641 --> 0:15:05.161 picked her up at around nine oh five pm and 0:15:05.201 --> 0:15:07.441 that at that point they stopped at the Frederick store 0:15:07.561 --> 0:15:09.761 where they bought some beer and had a few drinks. 0:15:10.121 --> 0:15:13.361 This was when, according to Debbie, Rex asked his boss 0:15:13.401 --> 0:15:15.161 if he could come in an hour late, and his 0:15:15.241 --> 0:15:18.121 boss agreed. She said that Rex drove her back home 0:15:18.201 --> 0:15:20.601 at around one fifteen am and walked her to the door. 0:15:21.281 --> 0:15:23.841 At that time, Debbie said he told her he had 0:15:23.881 --> 0:15:25.561 a good time, but that he had to get back 0:15:25.561 --> 0:15:29.481 to work and he left. But there is another detail 0:15:29.641 --> 0:15:34.681 about Debbie Pierce in this police report. Debbie Pierce was married. 0:15:46.001 --> 0:15:48.401 Debbie Pierce, who Rex went out with on a date 0:15:48.481 --> 0:15:51.921 a few hours before he was murdered, was legally married 0:15:52.001 --> 0:15:55.441 but separated from her husband. She told police they had 0:15:55.441 --> 0:15:58.721 a young son and that although they had split, there 0:15:58.761 --> 0:16:02.401 was no animosity between her and her husband. There was 0:16:02.521 --> 0:16:05.841 no reason to believe that he was involved in Rex's killing, 0:16:07.201 --> 0:16:12.001 so was this random or personal? Either way? Once word 0:16:12.001 --> 0:16:13.721 got out that there was a killer on the loose, 0:16:14.161 --> 0:16:19.201 local residents were terrified. Sheriff Ralph Baker told multiple sources 0:16:19.481 --> 0:16:22.121 that he was closing down a local Girl Scouts camp 0:16:22.161 --> 0:16:24.881 that was near the store and sending ninety eight girls 0:16:24.921 --> 0:16:29.161 home as a precautionary measure. The Rex Terror Reward Fund 0:16:29.201 --> 0:16:32.441 was established August tenth, nineteen seventy seven, by the American 0:16:32.481 --> 0:16:36.721 Savings and Loan Association in Huntsville. Local businesses donated money. 0:16:36.961 --> 0:16:41.361 The community came together to support Rex's family. As we 0:16:41.401 --> 0:16:44.801 said earlier, Rex was very well liked in the community, 0:16:45.121 --> 0:16:48.281 but there had been one incident at a nearby softball field, 0:16:48.681 --> 0:16:53.401 Huntsville Softball Park in May of nineteen seventy seven. Rex 0:16:53.481 --> 0:16:56.721 was there when a fight broke out. Rex's friend Jim, 0:16:56.841 --> 0:16:58.401 who was out with him on the double date the 0:16:58.481 --> 0:17:01.721 night Rex was shot, told police that a man named 0:17:01.801 --> 0:17:04.360 Ronnie Gwinn was drunk at the part and that after 0:17:04.360 --> 0:17:07.441 the fight broke out, Ronnie was arrested. A trooper named 0:17:07.521 --> 0:17:10.480 Tom Brown of the Arkansas State Police arrested Ronnie and 0:17:10.521 --> 0:17:13.920 took him to the Sheriff's office. Jim told police that 0:17:14.001 --> 0:17:17.281 on July thirty first, the day after Rex's shooting, he 0:17:17.441 --> 0:17:19.880 was with a friend of his name, George Edgman. They 0:17:19.921 --> 0:17:22.801 were hanging out at Frederick's when Ronnie gwyn came into 0:17:22.801 --> 0:17:25.041 the business and said that his boss had bought him 0:17:25.041 --> 0:17:27.640 a three fifty seven magnum and he wasn't going to 0:17:27.681 --> 0:17:32.201 take any shit from anybody anymore. At that point, Jim 0:17:32.241 --> 0:17:34.441 said that Ronnie was talking about the incident in May 0:17:34.441 --> 0:17:37.561 at the ballpark, and that Jim said, quote, I heard 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.801 today that a guy had been shot, and that everybody 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.041 on the Frederick softball team was going to get it 0:17:42.761 --> 0:17:45.001 since this thing happened, and the other night at Frederick's 0:17:45.001 --> 0:17:48.321 about Rex, I'm really scared. I was with Rex the 0:17:48.401 --> 0:17:51.921 night before he was killed. End quote. So it seemed 0:17:51.921 --> 0:17:54.681 as though Jim was concerned that maybe Rex's shooting had 0:17:54.721 --> 0:17:58.921 happened in retaliation to the ballpark incident, that maybe Frederick's 0:17:58.961 --> 0:18:03.721 employees were being targeted somehow. Police talked to Jim's friend, 0:18:03.761 --> 0:18:07.001 George Edgemon, who backed up his story and told police 0:18:07.041 --> 0:18:09.161 that he had gone down to Frederick's at around seven 0:18:09.201 --> 0:18:12.401 pm on Sunday, the thirty first of July, the day 0:18:12.441 --> 0:18:16.921 after Rex was killed. George said, quote, Ronnie Gwyn asked 0:18:16.961 --> 0:18:19.121 me about the victim, if he had said anything about 0:18:19.121 --> 0:18:21.161 who shot him, if he was still alive, et cetera, 0:18:21.601 --> 0:18:23.840 and asked what evidence the police had in the case. 0:18:24.441 --> 0:18:26.801 He also wanted to know where the victim was shot, 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.080 if we knew who did it, how many times he 0:18:29.161 --> 0:18:32.561 was shot, Questions of this nature end quote. And he 0:18:32.641 --> 0:18:35.401 repeated what Jim had said that Ronnie was telling them 0:18:35.401 --> 0:18:37.921 that he had three fifty seven magnum now and nobody 0:18:37.961 --> 0:18:41.080 was going to touch him again, but then George said 0:18:41.201 --> 0:18:44.441 that Ronnie behaved as though he had no animosity against 0:18:44.441 --> 0:18:48.001 Tom Brown, the trooper who arrested him, and according to 0:18:48.041 --> 0:18:51.281 police reports, it doesn't seem like Ronnie had made any 0:18:51.321 --> 0:18:55.801 threats about Rex specifically. Unfortunately, this is one of just 0:18:55.961 --> 0:18:59.601 many times in the police report where it seems as 0:18:59.601 --> 0:19:03.120 though investigative leads were just completely dropped because there's no 0:19:03.241 --> 0:19:06.201 more about the ballpark incident or any follow up After this. 0:19:08.641 --> 0:19:12.201 Police knew that Rex had been shot multiple times and 0:19:12.241 --> 0:19:15.561 that the manner of death was homicide. The sheriff made 0:19:15.601 --> 0:19:18.001 a comment in the newspaper about the bullet being from 0:19:18.041 --> 0:19:21.201 a thirty eight caliber or three fifty seven, and police 0:19:21.321 --> 0:19:24.600 did try to track down the murder weapon. On Sunday, 0:19:24.681 --> 0:19:28.080 July thirty first, at around one pm, the employee of 0:19:28.121 --> 0:19:30.640 a tire shop about three hundred yards west of the 0:19:30.641 --> 0:19:34.281 homicide scene called police to tell them they found a 0:19:34.321 --> 0:19:38.561 thirty eight special cartridge case outside their business. Police took 0:19:38.601 --> 0:19:41.281 the casing and for testing, but were unable to find 0:19:41.321 --> 0:19:46.160 anything of evident cherry value. They pulled two bullets from 0:19:46.241 --> 0:19:50.241 Rex's body, but those bullets were described as mutilated, and 0:19:50.401 --> 0:19:54.281 even though Rex had been shot three times. They could 0:19:54.281 --> 0:20:04.360 not find that third bullet. Police continued to look for 0:20:04.401 --> 0:20:07.321 anyone in the community who saw anything out of the ordinary. 0:20:07.441 --> 0:20:10.241 On the night of the shooting, a man came forward 0:20:10.561 --> 0:20:12.361 who said he was headed to work in the early 0:20:12.401 --> 0:20:15.161 morning hours of July thirtieth at the Huntsville Ready Mixed 0:20:15.161 --> 0:20:18.721 Cement Company, which was located just across the highway from Fredericks. 0:20:19.561 --> 0:20:21.641 The man said, as he was waiting to make a 0:20:21.721 --> 0:20:25.321 left turn into the driveway of his workplace, he was 0:20:25.361 --> 0:20:28.281 waiting on a slow moving vehicle, and while he was waiting, 0:20:28.441 --> 0:20:31.160 he glanced over to Fredericks and saw boy at the 0:20:31.161 --> 0:20:34.841 front door of Fredericks looking out of the store. He said, quote, 0:20:35.041 --> 0:20:37.561 he looked like a wild person. He was in his twenties, 0:20:37.601 --> 0:20:41.721 approximately six feet tall, slim, long blonde hair. He acted 0:20:41.801 --> 0:20:44.721 real nervous. He would go back in from the front 0:20:44.721 --> 0:20:47.961 door and then come back again end quote. He said 0:20:48.001 --> 0:20:50.880 that he noticed vehicles part by the store. One of 0:20:50.921 --> 0:20:54.001 them was a white Chevrolet pickup around a nineteen sixty 0:20:54.041 --> 0:20:57.401 six model. He also noticed a Toyota four wheel drive 0:20:57.481 --> 0:21:00.641 vehicle and a green Nova that he thought was Rex's 0:21:00.801 --> 0:21:04.161 parked in front of Frederick's. This sounded like it could 0:21:04.161 --> 0:21:06.801 be a promising lead, but from the description of the 0:21:06.881 --> 0:21:09.880 vehicles that we got from the police reports, reading through this, 0:21:10.121 --> 0:21:12.721 it seems likely that he was describing the two women 0:21:12.801 --> 0:21:15.640 and the three cousins, since they were driving a pickup 0:21:15.681 --> 0:21:19.041 truck and a jeep. Even though this happened in a 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.841 pre surveillance camera era and even in the early morning hours, 0:21:23.401 --> 0:21:25.360 it struck me reading this there was a lot of 0:21:25.401 --> 0:21:29.441 activity happening in and around this store. There were witnesses, 0:21:29.481 --> 0:21:32.681 including police officers, who came to the store or drove 0:21:32.721 --> 0:21:35.120 by all the way up until a few minutes before 0:21:35.241 --> 0:21:38.321 five am. All of them said it seemed like Rex 0:21:38.441 --> 0:21:41.880 was fine. With so much time accounted for, and the 0:21:41.921 --> 0:21:44.360 fact that Rex was bleeding to death on the floor 0:21:44.481 --> 0:21:47.681 when the three cousins and two women arrived, it seems 0:21:47.881 --> 0:21:51.041 very likely that whatever happened to Rex happened a few 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.640 minutes before they got there. Police continued to look for 0:21:55.681 --> 0:21:59.241 the Camaro. They interviewed a man who owned a nineteen 0:21:59.361 --> 0:22:03.120 seventy seven black Camaro with no pin striping. He said 0:22:03.121 --> 0:22:05.241 that he had been at Frederick's on the twenty ninth, 0:22:05.281 --> 0:22:08.001 at approximately ten thirty pm with a friend of his. 0:22:08.681 --> 0:22:11.241 He said they got a coke, he dropped his friend 0:22:11.281 --> 0:22:13.441 off at home, and then he was home by ten 0:22:13.561 --> 0:22:17.801 forty five pm. The man, David Gaskell, said that after 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.161 that he stayed there and did not go out again. 0:22:20.881 --> 0:22:23.400 He said he did know Rex Tarrel. He said he 0:22:23.481 --> 0:22:26.600 did know Rex's sister, but he said he had no 0:22:26.721 --> 0:22:30.641 involvement in anything that happened to Rex. David did give 0:22:30.721 --> 0:22:34.161 police the names of some other people who owned similar cars, 0:22:34.201 --> 0:22:37.681 including two people who owned black transams and a woman 0:22:37.801 --> 0:22:42.681 who owned a blue nineteen seventy six Camaro. Natalie Wilheit 0:22:42.961 --> 0:22:45.721 was another worker at Fredericks who gave an interview about Rex. 0:22:46.121 --> 0:22:49.360 She said, quote, I'm very upset over Rex being killed 0:22:49.641 --> 0:22:52.201 because I can't understand why someone would want to do 0:22:52.241 --> 0:22:54.961 that to Rex. He was quiet and I thought he 0:22:54.961 --> 0:22:58.840 didn't have any enemies at all. End quote. Natalie said 0:22:58.881 --> 0:23:01.401 that Rex had invited her to go water skiing with 0:23:01.481 --> 0:23:04.401 him on the Saturday before the murder, but she said 0:23:04.441 --> 0:23:07.441 she ended up not going. She said she never ended 0:23:07.481 --> 0:23:10.201 up going out with him socially. She said that on 0:23:10.241 --> 0:23:12.041 the night of the shooting, she had gone to a 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.561 haunted house with some friends. After she and her friends 0:23:15.601 --> 0:23:18.600 got back to Huntsville. They went riding around and stopped 0:23:18.641 --> 0:23:21.960 at Frederick's at around three am. She said that she 0:23:22.041 --> 0:23:25.001 was close to the store owner, mister Frederick and his family. 0:23:25.401 --> 0:23:27.241 She said while she was at the store that night, 0:23:27.401 --> 0:23:30.681 she talked to Rex and then went home. I mentioned 0:23:30.681 --> 0:23:33.401 her interview because police asked her something else. They asked 0:23:33.441 --> 0:23:36.400 her if she'd ever seen any drug dealing inside the store. 0:23:36.681 --> 0:23:39.481 She said that she had not. That's the only mention 0:23:39.601 --> 0:23:42.001 I can find in the whole case file that indicated 0:23:42.041 --> 0:23:45.841 police were exploring any angle connected to drugs. But there's 0:23:45.961 --> 0:23:48.561 no evidence that there was drug dealing inside the store. 0:23:49.361 --> 0:23:53.401 From the case file, Rex occasionally drank, but did zero drugs. 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:56.681 He didn't even smoke pot, according to statements given by 0:23:56.681 --> 0:24:00.521 his friends and his father. Police interviewed the owners of 0:24:00.561 --> 0:24:03.601