WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Gail Vaught Part 1 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:14.165 School of Humans. 0:00:15.285 --> 0:00:18.925 On the morning of Friday, October seventeenth, nineteen eighty, a 0:00:18.965 --> 0:00:21.485 man was on his way to work. He was driving 0:00:21.565 --> 0:00:24.725 his truck down Highway sixteen, the East West highway that 0:00:24.805 --> 0:00:29.125 runs between Salom Springs, Arkansas, near the Oklahoma border, through 0:00:29.245 --> 0:00:31.805 Ozark National Forest and Enns in Sercey. 0:00:33.205 --> 0:00:34.885 He was driving through the woods near. 0:00:34.765 --> 0:00:37.645 An area called Lake Weddington when he saw something out 0:00:37.645 --> 0:00:39.685 of the corner of his eye down a small dirt road. 0:00:40.405 --> 0:00:43.285 It looked like a person lying in the road, so 0:00:43.405 --> 0:00:46.445 the driver doubled back and looked again and saw to 0:00:46.605 --> 0:00:49.885 his horror that it was a body, the body of 0:00:49.925 --> 0:00:52.685 a young woman lying rolled over on her right side. 0:00:53.365 --> 0:00:56.405 Her head and shoulders were face down. Her right hand 0:00:56.485 --> 0:00:59.165 was extended out, her left hand was near her face. 0:01:00.165 --> 0:01:03.165 The woman was very tall. She had a flannel shirt 0:01:03.205 --> 0:01:06.485 on and a blue Michelin jacket that had been her face. 0:01:07.245 --> 0:01:10.525 Her legs were slightly open. She was naked from the 0:01:10.565 --> 0:01:14.045 waist down except for a pair of torn and filthy 0:01:14.165 --> 0:01:18.085 white sox. The victim started out being a Jane Doe, 0:01:18.765 --> 0:01:21.685 but soon police had idd her as twenty one year 0:01:21.685 --> 0:01:25.405 old Gail Vaut. Gail lived nearby and worked on a 0:01:25.485 --> 0:01:27.165 road crew as a great operator. 0:01:27.845 --> 0:01:30.645 She worked building Highway seventy one. 0:01:30.925 --> 0:01:34.365 Friends said that everyone loved Gail. She was six foot two, 0:01:34.565 --> 0:01:37.565 one hundred and fifty five pounds, lean fit, and a 0:01:37.725 --> 0:01:41.405 very attractive and outgoing young woman. Even though she was 0:01:41.485 --> 0:01:44.045 beautiful on the outside. She was one of those people 0:01:44.045 --> 0:01:45.765 who could act like one of the guys when she 0:01:45.885 --> 0:01:49.125 was on the job, and she could also deal with 0:01:49.205 --> 0:01:53.645 what was considered back then and even today as being 0:01:53.685 --> 0:01:57.925 a man's job. Forensic testing showed that Gail had been 0:01:57.965 --> 0:02:00.565 run over by a car. There was a condom and 0:02:00.605 --> 0:02:04.325 condom wrapper nearby, so investigators believed that she had been raped. 0:02:05.645 --> 0:02:10.085 Sometimes people, well meaning people say, well, at least she 0:02:10.125 --> 0:02:13.605 felt no pain. But I'm an investigator and I have 0:02:13.685 --> 0:02:18.245 to face what are sometimes brutal realities. I promise to 0:02:18.285 --> 0:02:23.365 always tell people the truth. Investigators saw that her left 0:02:23.405 --> 0:02:26.365 foot had moved back and forth in the mud, creating 0:02:26.365 --> 0:02:30.685 a ridge. So, according to the evidence, whatever happened to 0:02:30.765 --> 0:02:34.605 Gail Vaught in those woods, she suffered. But there are 0:02:34.645 --> 0:02:37.645 a lot of questions about this case, like was she 0:02:37.845 --> 0:02:42.365 actually raped, was she sexually assaulted? Or could that condom 0:02:42.445 --> 0:02:46.565 have been staged? Could her death have connections to drug dealing, 0:02:46.725 --> 0:02:51.165 or domestic violence or something else. What really happened to 0:02:51.205 --> 0:02:56.885 Gail Vauught. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years 0:02:56.885 --> 0:02:59.925 of making my true crime podcast, Helling Gone, I have 0:03:00.005 --> 0:03:03.605 received hundreds of messages from people asking for help with 0:03:03.685 --> 0:03:08.325 an unsolved murder that's affected them and their community. Despite 0:03:08.365 --> 0:03:11.165 the numerous people who need help out there on each 0:03:11.205 --> 0:03:13.565 season of Helen Gone, I've only been able to focus 0:03:13.605 --> 0:03:14.645 on one case at a time. 0:03:15.485 --> 0:03:17.045 But now that's going to change. 0:03:18.045 --> 0:03:19.885 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:03:19.965 --> 0:03:22.285 team to look into, you can reach out to us 0:03:22.325 --> 0:03:24.845 at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight 0:03:25.045 --> 0:03:28.765 seven four four six one four five. That's six seven 0:03:28.805 --> 0:03:33.605 eight seven four four six one four or five. This 0:03:33.805 --> 0:04:11.565 is Helen Gone Murder Line. I first learned about this 0:04:11.725 --> 0:04:14.005 case when I got a call from a private investigator 0:04:14.005 --> 0:04:18.085 in Arkansas named Marty. Even though Marty has a day job, 0:04:18.605 --> 0:04:21.845 he does investigations, including a lot of pro bono work 0:04:21.845 --> 0:04:25.565 on the side. A few years ago, he was contacted 0:04:25.565 --> 0:04:30.045 by Gail's sister, Teresa. He started working on Gail's case. 0:04:30.725 --> 0:04:34.405 It's been over forty years since Gaile's death. It's been 0:04:34.485 --> 0:04:37.845 so long that the police, who do not always want 0:04:37.885 --> 0:04:40.765 to share evidence, have turned over the case file making 0:04:40.805 --> 0:04:44.045 it public. This means they have gotten to what they 0:04:44.045 --> 0:04:48.285 believe is the end of their investigation. Marty told me, 0:04:48.485 --> 0:04:51.725 and I've discovered working on this case, that crucial physical 0:04:51.765 --> 0:04:55.725 evidence has been lost. And yet Marty did not want 0:04:55.725 --> 0:04:58.365 to give up on Gail's case. He believed and I 0:04:58.405 --> 0:05:02.365 believe too, there may be something, even decades later that 0:05:02.405 --> 0:05:08.765 the police have missed. One of the people Marty interviewed 0:05:08.965 --> 0:05:12.445 was the driver who found Gail's body. Now, this guy 0:05:12.565 --> 0:05:15.245 says that he was driving by when he happened to 0:05:15.285 --> 0:05:18.645 glance out his truck. He looked down an old road 0:05:18.725 --> 0:05:21.645 on the side of the highway. He said, and this 0:05:21.685 --> 0:05:24.605 is a quote from Marty's interview, that he looked in 0:05:24.645 --> 0:05:28.045 his rear view mirror and saw quote, there was a 0:05:28.085 --> 0:05:30.525 truck behind me. It was a small red truck. There 0:05:30.525 --> 0:05:32.565 were two people in the truck, and they seemed to 0:05:32.605 --> 0:05:36.005 be looking down the road also end quote. So it 0:05:36.045 --> 0:05:38.725 seemed like there was something weird down that road, and 0:05:38.805 --> 0:05:42.445 people were noticing. The driver doubled back and pulled off, 0:05:42.765 --> 0:05:45.445 and that's when he saw Gaial Vault. He said that 0:05:45.485 --> 0:05:48.965 her jacket was over her head. He lifted the jacket 0:05:49.045 --> 0:05:51.285 up to see if the person was still alive, and 0:05:51.565 --> 0:05:53.645 he said he could tell by the color of her 0:05:53.685 --> 0:05:57.405 face that she was already dead. So he went back 0:05:57.405 --> 0:06:00.245 to his truck where he had a radio. Side note 0:06:00.245 --> 0:06:03.565 back then, I asked Marty, well, how did he call? 0:06:03.765 --> 0:06:05.725 Was this a car phone? I mean this this was 0:06:05.845 --> 0:06:08.645 nineteen eighty and he told me that after the dukes 0:06:08.645 --> 0:06:11.165 of Hazard, a lot of people had cbe radios in 0:06:11.205 --> 0:06:13.445 their car. That was a big thing in Arkansas at 0:06:13.485 --> 0:06:17.885 the time and around the country. Anyway, he picked up 0:06:17.885 --> 0:06:20.285 his radio, called his office and asked them to call 0:06:20.325 --> 0:06:24.405 the Sheriff's department. After Gail's body was found and she 0:06:24.525 --> 0:06:27.285 was idd, her remains were sent to the state crime 0:06:27.365 --> 0:06:30.965 Lab for an autopsy. We did a freedom of information 0:06:31.085 --> 0:06:34.605 request and Marty also shared some of the case fall 0:06:34.685 --> 0:06:37.925 information he acquired over the years. From that, we were 0:06:37.965 --> 0:06:41.245 able to view Gailee's autopsy report and also see some 0:06:41.325 --> 0:06:43.405 of the notes that the investigators had made at the scene. 0:06:45.965 --> 0:06:49.125 So we're trying to figure out what actually killed gailvaut. 0:06:49.725 --> 0:06:52.285 The initial report said there was no sign of stabbing 0:06:52.485 --> 0:06:55.925 or other traumas and there were no visible gunshot wounds. 0:06:56.405 --> 0:06:59.005 But once investigators got the body to the next location, 0:06:59.725 --> 0:07:02.645 they realized something that they had missed at the original scene. 0:07:02.765 --> 0:07:06.845 There was a gunshot wound in Gail's head, hidden behind 0:07:06.925 --> 0:07:10.485 her shoulder length brown hair. Gail had been shot with 0:07:10.485 --> 0:07:13.405 a twenty two caliber weapon. It was a single gunshot 0:07:13.445 --> 0:07:15.845 wound to the back of the head, but the bullet 0:07:15.885 --> 0:07:20.165 had fragmented and not penetrated her brain. This sounds strange, 0:07:20.205 --> 0:07:22.525 but it actually happens more often than you would think. 0:07:23.245 --> 0:07:25.645 These are sometimes the kind of stories you hear where 0:07:25.685 --> 0:07:27.925 someone was shot in the head and they ended up surviving. 0:07:28.365 --> 0:07:30.845 Because when this happens, when someone is shot in the 0:07:30.885 --> 0:07:34.565 head and the bullet does not penetrate the grain, sometimes 0:07:34.565 --> 0:07:38.485 people are able to survive. In Gail's case, her killer 0:07:38.565 --> 0:07:41.045 obviously wanted to make sure that did not happen, because 0:07:41.565 --> 0:07:44.325 the report stated Gail was shot and run over by 0:07:44.325 --> 0:07:47.445 a car. The immediate cause of death was listed as 0:07:47.525 --> 0:07:50.525 gunshot wound of the right rear of the head, accompanied 0:07:50.525 --> 0:07:55.165 with blunt trauma of the pelvis and in parentheses, run 0:07:55.205 --> 0:07:59.445 over by a car. The report did not state which 0:07:59.485 --> 0:08:02.085 one had come first. Was she shot in the head 0:08:02.125 --> 0:08:06.045 first or run over by the car. The autops then 0:08:06.165 --> 0:08:09.285 listed the manner of death as homicide. 0:08:09.405 --> 0:08:11.685 As we said before, Gail was athletic. 0:08:12.165 --> 0:08:15.205 This was a woman who had played volleyball in high 0:08:15.205 --> 0:08:18.445 school competitively. She worked on a road crew every day. 0:08:19.125 --> 0:08:23.005 She knew how to handle herself, and there appeared to 0:08:23.005 --> 0:08:27.565 be no defensive wounds anywhere on her body. Investigators were 0:08:27.565 --> 0:08:30.205 trying to piece together what happened. They went to the 0:08:30.245 --> 0:08:34.725 home that Gail shared with her boyfriend Ray. They found 0:08:34.845 --> 0:08:38.045 food sitting out on the stove, and to police, it 0:08:38.085 --> 0:08:40.765 appeared as though Gail had been in the process of 0:08:40.805 --> 0:08:44.405 cooking a meal. Police formed an early theory that Gail 0:08:44.445 --> 0:08:49.245 could have been kidnapped, possibly at gunpoint. As I mentioned before, 0:08:49.565 --> 0:08:52.485 police did find some other evidence at the crime scene, 0:08:52.645 --> 0:08:56.725 including a used condom and a condom box. The brand 0:08:57.005 --> 0:09:00.205 was called Tickled Fancy. This is a brand I've never 0:09:00.245 --> 0:09:02.045 heard of, but I did a lot of research and 0:09:02.085 --> 0:09:06.325 apparently this was a brand that was popular in the 0:09:06.365 --> 0:09:11.365 Midwest in Arkansas, Missouri during this time. The front of 0:09:11.405 --> 0:09:15.325 the condom box is unlike any other one I've ever seen. 0:09:15.365 --> 0:09:18.565 It has an illustration of a man and woman looking 0:09:18.605 --> 0:09:21.605 like they're about to kiss on the front. I am 0:09:21.685 --> 0:09:25.165 doing some investigating. I'm trying to figure out where those 0:09:25.245 --> 0:09:29.005 condoms were sold. So if anyone out there was alive 0:09:29.045 --> 0:09:32.125 in nineteen eighty and sexually active and happens to remember 0:09:32.645 --> 0:09:36.365 buying this brand of condoms, were they available in vending machines? 0:09:36.405 --> 0:09:38.165 That kind of thing I would love to hear from you. 0:09:40.365 --> 0:09:43.525 Investigators also found a roll of gray duct tape near 0:09:43.525 --> 0:09:46.445 the body, which could have been another piece of evidence 0:09:46.485 --> 0:09:50.285 potentially tied to their kidnapping theory. There was also an 0:09:50.325 --> 0:09:52.925 empty gun box at the crime scene near Gale's body 0:09:53.365 --> 0:09:57.445 that had held a twenty two caliber weapon. According to 0:09:57.565 --> 0:10:01.765 the investigator's notes, this gun box was meant for a 0:10:01.885 --> 0:10:05.285 rom RG ten, which is a twenty two caliber revolver, 0:10:06.285 --> 0:10:09.445 but police did not find the murder weapon. There were 0:10:09.525 --> 0:10:13.045 also some fresh tire tracks in the mud near Gail's body. 0:10:14.125 --> 0:10:17.445 Investigators took picture of the tire tracks, and while they 0:10:17.445 --> 0:10:20.045 were working to process the crime scene, they started looking 0:10:20.085 --> 0:10:22.805 into Gail's personal life, and it didn't take long for 0:10:22.845 --> 0:10:26.325 them to come up with a person of interest, Gail's boyfriend, 0:10:26.445 --> 0:10:30.205 Ray Foreman. Gail and Ray lived together in a basement 0:10:30.245 --> 0:10:32.325 apartment that was owned by a friend of theirs named 0:10:32.325 --> 0:10:32.965 Barry Frizell. 0:10:33.925 --> 0:10:35.685 Ray had a history. 0:10:35.525 --> 0:10:38.725 A history of violence, and a history with the police. 0:10:38.885 --> 0:10:40.925 Ray had split up with his wife Lynn a few 0:10:40.925 --> 0:10:44.525 months before he met Gail. There were accusations of domestic 0:10:44.605 --> 0:10:48.445 violence in that relationship, and as we said, Ray was 0:10:48.485 --> 0:10:50.405 well known to police as a drug dealer. 0:10:51.165 --> 0:10:53.245 According to Gail's friends, she didn't. 0:10:53.045 --> 0:10:56.565 Really talk about where she lived, and she didn't seem 0:10:56.605 --> 0:11:00.205 to want to give people directions to her house. Apparently 0:11:00.245 --> 0:11:02.845 this was because of the fact that Ray dealt drugs. 0:11:04.525 --> 0:11:08.765 Gail's body was on Friday, October seventeenth, and Gail had 0:11:08.765 --> 0:11:12.845 apparently been making weekend plans on that Friday. At first, 0:11:13.085 --> 0:11:15.805 police believed Gail may have been hanging out with a 0:11:15.845 --> 0:11:19.445 friend of hers named Sheila. Gail and Sheila did drugs 0:11:19.485 --> 0:11:24.765 together and partied sometimes. Sheila later told police that occasionally 0:11:24.805 --> 0:11:28.125 they would smoke some pot or drop acid together. Gail 0:11:28.165 --> 0:11:30.245 had told Sheila to come up to see her that weekend, 0:11:30.925 --> 0:11:33.725 and Gail had said not to worry about anything. She 0:11:33.845 --> 0:11:37.285 specifically told Sheila that she would pay for everything, meaning 0:11:37.285 --> 0:11:40.565 the drugs they were going to buy. While police were 0:11:40.605 --> 0:11:43.525 working to locate Sheila, and also trying to find anyone 0:11:43.565 --> 0:11:45.965 else who Gail may have been planning to meet with, 0:11:46.485 --> 0:11:48.445 and trying to figure out what was going on at 0:11:48.485 --> 0:11:51.965 home between her and Ray. They were trying to process 0:11:52.005 --> 0:11:56.245 the physical evidence. As we said before, police believed that 0:11:56.285 --> 0:11:59.325 Gail had been raped, so they sent this used condom 0:11:59.405 --> 0:12:03.885 off for some forensic testing. Now, remember this was back 0:12:03.885 --> 0:12:06.565 in nineteen eighty This was before there was such a 0:12:06.565 --> 0:12:09.845 thing as DNA testing at all. All police could do 0:12:09.925 --> 0:12:12.805 at the time with some much simpler testing, which apparently 0:12:13.005 --> 0:12:17.725 they did. According to Gale's autopsy report, there were traces 0:12:17.725 --> 0:12:21.965 of semen found inside her vagina and there was sperm 0:12:22.085 --> 0:12:26.765 found inside that condom. The autopsy report clarified that cells 0:12:26.805 --> 0:12:30.005 that came from Gale's vagina tested negative for sperm cells, 0:12:30.445 --> 0:12:34.725 but positive for the possible presence of semen. I looked 0:12:34.725 --> 0:12:37.205 into this discrepancy to see if we could explain it, 0:12:37.525 --> 0:12:41.205 and it turns out that there is a reasonable explanation 0:12:41.285 --> 0:12:43.605 for this because one of the tests they had at 0:12:43.605 --> 0:12:48.085 the time was a simple test called an acid phosphate test. Now, 0:12:48.125 --> 0:12:50.725 this test is a way to screen for possible semen, 0:12:50.765 --> 0:12:55.005 but it's not exact. Apparently the investigators did that test 0:12:55.085 --> 0:12:57.805 first and it came up positive. Then they took some 0:12:57.885 --> 0:13:00.805 swabs from Gale's vagina and her anus and also her 0:13:00.885 --> 0:13:04.565 mouth and sent those in for testing. So after that, 0:13:04.685 --> 0:13:07.725 when they got the swap back, all of the swabs 0:13:07.765 --> 0:13:12.205 tested negative for sperm cells. The report also clarified that 0:13:12.285 --> 0:13:15.605 the condom was the only thing that tested positive on 0:13:15.685 --> 0:13:19.085 both of those tests, the acid phosphate test and the 0:13:19.125 --> 0:13:22.845 test for sperm cells. There are a couple of possibilities 0:13:22.845 --> 0:13:26.165 that could explain this. Why Gail would have a trace 0:13:26.325 --> 0:13:28.645 of what would appear to be semen in her vagina 0:13:29.165 --> 0:13:32.525 but test negative for sperm cells. The seminal fluid, if 0:13:32.565 --> 0:13:35.685 it was present, could have come from her perpetrator, but 0:13:35.925 --> 0:13:39.565 it also could have been a trace from consensual sex 0:13:39.605 --> 0:13:43.885 she had earlier. Ray, Gail's boyfriend, told police that they 0:13:43.925 --> 0:13:47.725 did have sexual intercourse on Wednesday night. I wondered if 0:13:47.765 --> 0:13:50.605 we could recover that condom and maybe find out for sure, 0:13:50.685 --> 0:13:52.365 because that could be a key. 0:13:52.245 --> 0:13:52.885 In this case. 0:13:54.125 --> 0:13:57.885 Again, DNA testing was not a reality in nineteen eighty, 0:13:57.925 --> 0:14:00.805 but it is today. Maybe there is testing that could 0:14:00.885 --> 0:14:04.165 be done. Unfortunately, I found out this would not be 0:14:04.205 --> 0:14:11.165 a possibility because the crime lab lost the condom. Marty 0:14:11.245 --> 0:14:13.925 went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what 0:14:14.125 --> 0:14:18.165 happened to this crucial physical evidence. The truth is, in 0:14:18.205 --> 0:14:20.485 the eighties, there were no laws on the books about 0:14:20.525 --> 0:14:24.405 preserving physical evidence the way there are now. Soil samples 0:14:24.405 --> 0:14:27.285 from Gail's body and the condom and other evidence were 0:14:27.325 --> 0:14:29.725 sent off to the crime lab. But in November of 0:14:29.845 --> 0:14:33.125 nineteen eighty a message was sent to Berwin Monroe, who 0:14:33.285 --> 0:14:36.205 was running the test on the physical evidence, and in 0:14:36.245 --> 0:14:40.085 that message he was told that the state was experiencing 0:14:40.165 --> 0:14:43.925 an extreme backlog in testing. He asked him to limit 0:14:43.965 --> 0:14:47.365 testing to test that involve things like hair comparison and 0:14:47.405 --> 0:14:51.325 gunshot residue tests. Things got worse in nineteen eighty three. 0:14:52.045 --> 0:14:55.485 According to an email Marty got years later, in nineteen 0:14:55.525 --> 0:14:58.205 eighty three, some of the evidence related to Gail's case 0:14:58.525 --> 0:15:02.645 was destroyed. This is not super surprising to me because 0:15:02.685 --> 0:15:05.485 at that time news articles were talking about the fact 0:15:05.645 --> 0:15:08.285 that the Arkansas State Crime Lab building and its testing 0:15:08.325 --> 0:15:12.005 methods were super outdated and drastically needed investment. 0:15:12.605 --> 0:15:13.685 And this is sad to say. 0:15:13.725 --> 0:15:15.725 It seems like the more things change, the more they 0:15:15.805 --> 0:15:19.325 stay the same. Because this issue continues in Arkansas. Over 0:15:19.405 --> 0:15:23.885 forty years later, I will say things have improved now 0:15:24.005 --> 0:15:27.245 as of twenty twenty four, waiting periods for things like 0:15:27.685 --> 0:15:30.845 rape kits are reportedly down to around ninety. 0:15:30.645 --> 0:15:32.645 Days and they used to take years. 0:15:33.085 --> 0:15:37.445 But that crime lab continues to have issues. So back 0:15:37.485 --> 0:15:41.165 to Gail's case, the condom was a dead end. But 0:15:41.245 --> 0:15:44.805 what about the other forensic tests that were performed. Gail 0:15:45.005 --> 0:15:49.005 was tested for drugs. She tested negative for marijuana, alcohol, 0:15:49.045 --> 0:15:54.405 and LSD. Again, that's not hugely helpful because LSD and 0:15:54.605 --> 0:15:55.605 POTT leave. 0:15:55.405 --> 0:15:57.365 The blood after around twelve hours. 0:15:58.085 --> 0:16:00.165 It's not exact because it would depend on what the 0:16:00.205 --> 0:16:04.725 exact dosage she took was, if any. But if we 0:16:04.845 --> 0:16:07.325 know that the author topsy was conducted at around eleven 0:16:07.405 --> 0:16:10.485 thirty am on Friday, we're not exactly sure of the 0:16:10.525 --> 0:16:13.925 time of death, but it really doesn't even tell us 0:16:14.325 --> 0:16:17.205 if she took any drugs through all of Friday. We 0:16:17.245 --> 0:16:19.405 can't even rule out the possibility she might have taken 0:16:19.445 --> 0:16:22.045 drugs on Friday night, So those tests were not super helpful. 0:16:23.485 --> 0:16:26.845 Police started talking to people who Gail had talked to recently. 0:16:27.645 --> 0:16:29.965 They went through her phone records, which back then in 0:16:30.045 --> 0:16:32.765 nineteen eighty was her home land line. One of the 0:16:32.765 --> 0:16:35.405 people she'd been in contact with recently was a guy 0:16:35.485 --> 0:16:38.885 named William Craigdean. He said that he had been friendly 0:16:38.925 --> 0:16:42.925 with Gail, and he shed some light on Gail's relationship 0:16:43.125 --> 0:16:45.925 with a guy she had dated recently named Randall Wyman, 0:16:46.005 --> 0:16:50.925 who everyone called Randy. Randy's name kept coming up in 0:16:50.965 --> 0:16:53.965 this investigation. He was friends with Gail after they stopped 0:16:53.965 --> 0:16:56.325 seeing each other, and they worked together on the same 0:16:56.405 --> 0:16:59.965 road crew. William the friend, said that he had seen 0:17:00.045 --> 0:17:02.285 Gail and smoke some pot with her and Randy in 0:17:02.325 --> 0:17:05.965 March or April. Police needed to figure out out where 0:17:06.005 --> 0:17:08.605 Gail was on Thursday night, so they started taking a 0:17:08.605 --> 0:17:11.725 look at the days leading up to the weekend. They 0:17:11.765 --> 0:17:14.485 talked to another one of Gaile's coworkers, a supervisor named 0:17:14.565 --> 0:17:16.965 Joe Jones. He said he got a call from Gail 0:17:17.005 --> 0:17:20.765 on Thursday night around eight pm. So she was at 0:17:20.805 --> 0:17:23.605 home on Thursday night at eight pm and she was 0:17:23.645 --> 0:17:27.725 behaving normally, Joe said. During that conversation, Gail asked to 0:17:27.765 --> 0:17:30.245 see if they would be working the next morning, which 0:17:30.285 --> 0:17:31.965 would have been Friday, October seventeen. 0:17:33.045 --> 0:17:34.565 Now, it had been raining. 0:17:34.365 --> 0:17:37.725 Extremely heavily off and on for the twenty four hours 0:17:37.765 --> 0:17:42.005 before Gail went missing. So Joe said he told Gail 0:17:42.085 --> 0:17:44.485 they probably would not be working on Friday due to 0:17:44.525 --> 0:17:47.365 the heavy rains, but he said she could come by 0:17:47.365 --> 0:17:49.885 and pick up her paycheck because Friday would be payday. 0:17:50.725 --> 0:17:52.525 Gail said she would. 0:17:52.205 --> 0:17:54.085 Come by the next morning to pick up her check. 0:17:55.005 --> 0:17:58.165 During their interview with Joe, police obviously were trying to 0:17:58.165 --> 0:17:59.765 figure out if he could have had anything to do 0:17:59.805 --> 0:18:03.125 with this, like they were with everyone else. He said 0:18:03.125 --> 0:18:04.725 he didn't own a gun when they asked him if 0:18:04.765 --> 0:18:07.205 he owned any weapons. They asked him if he had 0:18:07.285 --> 0:18:08.805 changed his tires recently. 0:18:09.285 --> 0:18:09.805 He said no. 0:18:09.925 --> 0:18:12.525 He said he did have a red pickup truck it 0:18:12.605 --> 0:18:15.085 was park there and he had been driving one of 0:18:15.085 --> 0:18:19.005 his other bosses trucks. They talked to Mary Jones, Joe's wife, 0:18:19.045 --> 0:18:21.165 and she said on Thursday evening, she and Joe ate 0:18:21.205 --> 0:18:23.765 dinner together. She said after dinner he went out to 0:18:23.765 --> 0:18:26.045 work on one of the cars, but she said that 0:18:26.805 --> 0:18:29.325 she couldn't quite remember. He may have run to the 0:18:29.365 --> 0:18:31.485 store for ten or fifteen minutes, but other than that 0:18:31.805 --> 0:18:34.605 he had been home all night. He went to work 0:18:34.645 --> 0:18:37.725 the next morning at around six am, which he normally did. 0:18:39.205 --> 0:18:41.525 Joe Jones, like a lot of men on that crew 0:18:41.645 --> 0:18:45.485 had apparently made some comments about Gail about her being attractive, 0:18:46.205 --> 0:18:49.325 but it seemed like that was just work talk, especially 0:18:49.325 --> 0:18:51.765 back then, a lot of the guys made comments like that. 0:18:52.685 --> 0:18:56.245 Police also wanted to talk to Sheila Gail's friend, the 0:18:56.285 --> 0:18:58.365 friend that police thought Gail was going to be hanging 0:18:58.405 --> 0:19:01.845 out with, but it turned out this was another dead 0:19:01.965 --> 0:19:05.885 end because Sheila told police she wasn't even around that weekend. 0:19:06.685 --> 0:19:09.325 She told law enforcement she had known Gail for years. 0:19:09.765 --> 0:19:12.125 She said they had been friends since nineteen seventy seven 0:19:12.245 --> 0:19:15.725 and they were actually roommates in Fort Smith, but Gail 0:19:15.805 --> 0:19:18.365 said she had moved away from Fort Smith to Van 0:19:18.445 --> 0:19:21.965 Buren in April. Then she'd gone to Colorado for a 0:19:22.005 --> 0:19:24.045 few months on a job, so she said she hadn't 0:19:24.085 --> 0:19:27.645 actually seen Gail in months. She said that she was 0:19:27.685 --> 0:19:31.125 only in Arkansas because her mother called her and told 0:19:31.165 --> 0:19:34.325 her Gail had been murdered. She was shocked, and she 0:19:34.365 --> 0:19:38.565 came back immediately, and in what's kind of a strange twist, 0:19:38.965 --> 0:19:41.605 when Sheila went into her apartment in Van Buren, she 0:19:41.725 --> 0:19:45.325 actually found a letter from Gail. She took the letter 0:19:45.365 --> 0:19:47.285 to the police, and we've seen it. It's in the 0:19:47.285 --> 0:19:50.245 case file. She didn't see this letter from Gail until 0:19:50.245 --> 0:19:53.685 after Gail was dead. In that letter, Gail said she 0:19:53.805 --> 0:19:56.685 wanted Sheila to come to Fayetteville for the weekend. She 0:19:56.725 --> 0:19:59.965 said she wanted to see her. And it's weird because 0:20:00.005 --> 0:20:02.205 Gail was telling everyone that she was going to see 0:20:02.205 --> 0:20:04.205 Shila that weekend when they really. 0:20:03.965 --> 0:20:05.805 Had no confirmed plans. 0:20:06.445 --> 0:20:09.565 In the letter, Gail was basically trying to get Shila 0:20:09.645 --> 0:20:11.645 to come see her. She said she was going to 0:20:11.685 --> 0:20:12.965 get some acid, she was going to. 0:20:12.965 --> 0:20:14.765 Pay for everything. They should hang out. 0:20:15.445 --> 0:20:18.245 Sheila really couldn't give police any information about what Gail 0:20:18.245 --> 0:20:20.445 had been doing that weekend because she wasn't there, but 0:20:21.165 --> 0:20:24.485 she gave officers some more insight into Gail. She said 0:20:24.525 --> 0:20:28.645 Gail did take drugs occasionally. Mainly she smoked pot recreationally. 0:20:29.405 --> 0:20:32.245 Sometimes she liked to take acid, preferably a type of 0:20:32.285 --> 0:20:36.525 acid called purple micro dot. Sheila also said something else 0:20:36.565 --> 0:20:39.645 that I think is pretty important. She said Gail loved 0:20:39.765 --> 0:20:40.365 her jeep. 0:20:40.965 --> 0:20:42.245 She said that Gail. 0:20:42.085 --> 0:20:45.285 Quote would not go anywhere without her vehicle and always 0:20:45.325 --> 0:20:45.725 said that. 0:20:45.725 --> 0:20:48.645 If anyone walked, it would not be her. End quote. 0:20:49.285 --> 0:20:52.085 So Gail did not like being without her vehicle. She 0:20:52.125 --> 0:20:55.045 did not like being stuck anywhere, and she always stayed 0:20:55.045 --> 0:20:55.565 with her car. 0:20:55.805 --> 0:20:57.405 And this will become important in a minute. 0:20:57.885 --> 0:21:00.525 Sheila told police that in her opinion, this was one 0:21:00.565 --> 0:21:03.805 of the reasons why she believed Gail could have been abducted, 0:21:03.885 --> 0:21:07.165 because she said she believed that Gail would have put 0:21:07.245 --> 0:21:09.565 up a fight. She wouldn't have gone with anyone willingly. 0:21:10.845 --> 0:21:13.525 Police asked Sheila if Gail had any issues with anyone. 0:21:14.405 --> 0:21:18.085 She said not really, everyone like Gail, like a lot 0:21:18.125 --> 0:21:22.245 of people. Sheila said that Ray had a reputation for violence. 0:21:23.085 --> 0:21:26.685 She said she believed that Gail was somewhat afraid of Ray. 0:21:27.285 --> 0:21:29.525 She said that once there was an incident where she 0:21:29.765 --> 0:21:33.405 and Randy and Gail were hanging out. Sheila said that 0:21:33.565 --> 0:21:35.725 Randy kind of made a joke and said he was 0:21:35.765 --> 0:21:37.685 going to call Ray and tell him that Gail was 0:21:37.685 --> 0:21:41.205 there at the time, and at that point, Sheila said 0:21:41.325 --> 0:21:42.605 that Gail said. 0:21:42.445 --> 0:21:43.445 She was afraid of Ray. 0:21:43.445 --> 0:21:45.685 She was acting like she was really scared that Randy 0:21:45.765 --> 0:21:47.325 might do that, even though Randy was kind of only 0:21:47.365 --> 0:21:51.885 kidding around. Police talked to Randy and he told investigators 0:21:51.885 --> 0:21:53.925 that he had worked with Gail for the past few months. 0:21:54.325 --> 0:21:56.645 They were building the highway Highway seventy one in the 0:21:56.685 --> 0:22:02.445 Fayeteval area together. Randy said that Ray, Gail's boyfriend, didn't 0:22:02.445 --> 0:22:06.005 have a job, at least not doing anything legal. Randy 0:22:06.085 --> 0:22:08.365 said that after Ray was laid off and after he 0:22:08.445 --> 0:22:11.445 broke up with his wife that year, he and these 0:22:11.485 --> 0:22:15.285 are Randy's words, violently beat her and accused her of 0:22:15.285 --> 0:22:18.845 being unfaithful. So a lot of people believe that Randy 0:22:18.885 --> 0:22:22.685 had violently beat his ex wife and might have been 0:22:22.725 --> 0:22:26.485 threatening Gail. A few months after that breakup, Gail moved 0:22:26.485 --> 0:22:29.765 in with Ray, so it seemed like there was some 0:22:29.805 --> 0:22:34.485 beef between Ray and Randy because even though Randy was 0:22:34.525 --> 0:22:37.565 the person who introduced Ray to Gail, they didn't seem 0:22:37.605 --> 0:22:41.125