WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brittany Phillips Part 2 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 --> 0:01:14.041 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. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.280 On Monday, September twenty seventh, two thousand and four, eighteen 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.961 year old Britney Phillips, a student at Tulsa Community College, 0:01:37.441 --> 0:01:40.641 went to her evening chemistry class with her friend Lydia. 0:01:41.681 --> 0:01:45.321 As we said last week, and Britney car pulled together. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.641 Lydia was driving, and it was just an ordinary night. 0:01:49.081 --> 0:01:52.760 They were happily chatting about Britney's nineteenth birthday, which was 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.281 coming up in a few days, and their plans to 0:01:55.321 --> 0:01:56.600 hang out that weekend. 0:01:57.161 --> 0:01:58.481 After the test was over. 0:01:59.001 --> 0:02:01.361 They got out of class a little bit early and 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:05.361 rode together back to Lydia's apartment. They arrived there at 0:02:05.361 --> 0:02:08.761 around eight pm, and Britney got into her car and 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:13.241 said goodbye. She lived a short car ride away in 0:02:13.281 --> 0:02:16.841 an apartment complex near sixty fifth Street and Mingo Road. 0:02:17.641 --> 0:02:20.201 That was the last time that Lydia ever saw her 0:02:20.201 --> 0:02:24.681 friend alive. After Britney didn't show up for the next class, 0:02:25.121 --> 0:02:28.720 Lydia went into Britney's apartment and found the door unlocked, 0:02:29.441 --> 0:02:32.201 but after poking her head in, she told us that 0:02:32.321 --> 0:02:35.721 she heard Britney's cap me outing, got a creepy feeling 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.361 and backed out. Then Lydia called her dad. After that, 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.481 she called the authorities and asked for a welfare check 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:48.361 on her friend. Investigators got there shortly after ten pm 0:02:48.401 --> 0:02:53.241 on September thirtieth, and they found Britney's body. Clothing was 0:02:53.321 --> 0:02:57.121 found scattered all around her in a haphazard way, and 0:02:57.161 --> 0:03:00.361 the balcony doors to her second floor apartment were open. 0:03:01.201 --> 0:03:05.041 Britney was found lying next to her bed, and investigators 0:03:05.041 --> 0:03:07.841 believed she had been dead for at least a couple 0:03:07.841 --> 0:03:11.841 of days. News reports said that Britney had been raped 0:03:12.001 --> 0:03:16.281 and strangled, but last week we saw the medical examiner's report, 0:03:16.881 --> 0:03:20.201 and in that report there was no definitive evidence of 0:03:20.241 --> 0:03:24.241 sexual assault. What happened to Britney Phillips after she went 0:03:24.321 --> 0:03:27.561 up to her dark apartment that night? Was she actually 0:03:27.601 --> 0:03:31.041 sexually assaulted? What's the status of the DNA that was 0:03:31.081 --> 0:03:35.601 found under her fingernails? And could her killer already be 0:03:35.601 --> 0:03:40.281 behind bars or still be out somewhere possibly looking for 0:03:40.361 --> 0:03:47.521 more victims. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past seven years 0:03:47.561 --> 0:03:51.161 of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned 0:03:51.201 --> 0:03:54.241 that there's no such thing as a small town where 0:03:54.321 --> 0:03:58.401 murdered never happens. I have received hundreds of messages from 0:03:58.441 --> 0:04:01.281 people all around the country asking for help with an 0:04:01.361 --> 0:04:05.441 unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. 0:04:05.921 --> 0:04:07.761 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:04:07.801 --> 0:04:10.241 team to look into, you can reach out to us 0:04:10.281 --> 0:04:12.761 at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight 0:04:13.001 --> 0:04:16.241 seven four four six one four or five. That's six 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.400 seven eight seven four four six one four five, or 0:04:20.521 --> 0:04:23.801 you can send us a message on Instagram. 0:04:22.921 --> 0:04:24.401 At Helen gonepod. 0:04:25.121 --> 0:05:10.721 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. When we talked to 0:05:10.761 --> 0:05:14.601 Lydia last week, she told us that Brittany had recently 0:05:14.641 --> 0:05:18.001 started seeing someone. There were rumors that Brittany may have 0:05:18.041 --> 0:05:20.961 had a crush on someone in her building. Britney's mother, 0:05:21.161 --> 0:05:24.121 Maggie Ingman, said she didn't believe that was true, and 0:05:24.241 --> 0:05:28.161 Lydia clarified Britney's new boyfriend did not live in her building. 0:05:29.321 --> 0:05:32.041 Lydia told us that after she called for the welfare check, 0:05:32.481 --> 0:05:35.961 she called the restaurant where Britney's boyfriend worked. He came 0:05:36.041 --> 0:05:38.760 to meet her at Britney's apartment during the time when 0:05:38.761 --> 0:05:42.761 authorities were doing the welfare check. As paramedics and investigators 0:05:42.881 --> 0:05:47.241 entered Britney's apartment, we would love to talk to Britney's boyfriend. 0:05:47.801 --> 0:05:51.361 Lydia remembers talking to him, but unfortunately does not remember 0:05:51.361 --> 0:05:55.001 his name. She also doesn't remember where he worked, just 0:05:55.041 --> 0:05:57.521 that it was a coffee shop or restaurant that began 0:05:57.601 --> 0:06:01.281 with the letter B and had at least two locations 0:06:01.321 --> 0:06:05.321 in Tulsa at that time. She remembered him being very 0:06:05.361 --> 0:06:09.401 concerned during the welfare check and cooperative with police. I 0:06:09.481 --> 0:06:12.320 want to be very clear, we do not suspect that 0:06:12.361 --> 0:06:15.880 Britney's boyfriend had anything to do with Britney's murder. But 0:06:16.201 --> 0:06:18.880 because there's a lot we don't know about Britney's last 0:06:18.921 --> 0:06:24.121 few weeks, he might have important information, maybe information he. 0:06:24.081 --> 0:06:25.481 Doesn't even know he has. 0:06:26.001 --> 0:06:28.761 So if you are out there, please reach out, or 0:06:28.801 --> 0:06:31.721 if you know this person, please send him our way. 0:06:32.721 --> 0:06:34.721 The next thing I wanted to try and shed some 0:06:34.841 --> 0:06:38.801 light on if we can, is the timeline. Police believe 0:06:38.881 --> 0:06:41.601 that when they found her body, Brittany had been dead 0:06:41.681 --> 0:06:44.521 for at least a couple of days. They believe she 0:06:44.641 --> 0:06:47.121 was killed sometime between the night of the twenty seventh, 0:06:47.201 --> 0:06:49.760 after she got home from her chemistry class in the 0:06:49.801 --> 0:06:53.801 morning of the twenty eighth. Other evidence also points to that. 0:06:54.441 --> 0:06:57.561 Last week we talked about the medical examiner's report. It 0:06:57.681 --> 0:07:02.161 stated lividity was fixed and blanched, which normally occurs around 0:07:02.241 --> 0:07:06.041 eight to twelve hours after death, and rigor mortis was absent, 0:07:06.401 --> 0:07:11.281 which normally only happened starting around twenty four hours after death. Also, 0:07:11.761 --> 0:07:15.361 no one saw or heard from Brittany at all between 0:07:15.401 --> 0:07:17.281 the night of the twenty seventh and the time her 0:07:17.321 --> 0:07:21.481 body was found. Brittany's body was naked from the waist down. 0:07:21.961 --> 0:07:25.081 She was wearing a white shirt with loral print. The 0:07:25.121 --> 0:07:27.561 same shirt that Lydia had seen her wearing when she 0:07:27.641 --> 0:07:31.601 last saw her, and Brittany had a dried used hampon 0:07:31.841 --> 0:07:34.961 next to her body. Now, the fact that Brittany was 0:07:35.041 --> 0:07:37.881 wearing the same top that Lydia last saw her in 0:07:37.961 --> 0:07:42.441 on September twenty seventh isn't conclusive, but it does, in 0:07:42.521 --> 0:07:46.081 my opinion, point to Brittany being killed shortly. 0:07:45.721 --> 0:07:49.041 After she got home. But then there was the stamp. 0:07:49.881 --> 0:07:53.321 Last week, Maggie told us that Brittany's father contacted her 0:07:53.361 --> 0:07:56.601 in twenty twenty three. He showed her a card that 0:07:56.641 --> 0:07:59.321 Brittany had forwarded to him to mail to her grandfather 0:07:59.401 --> 0:08:02.521 for his birthday, and the postmark on that stamp was 0:08:02.561 --> 0:08:06.521 September twenty ninth, two thousand and four. Now, Maggie considered 0:08:06.561 --> 0:08:09.761 the possibility maybe Brittany dropped the letter into a mailbox 0:08:09.801 --> 0:08:12.361 before her class, and that the letter could have sat 0:08:12.361 --> 0:08:14.161 in the back of the mailbox for a couple days. 0:08:14.601 --> 0:08:17.401 But later she said she had discovered that the stamp 0:08:17.521 --> 0:08:20.921 was printed either from a post office or from a 0:08:21.001 --> 0:08:23.161 kiosk on September twenty ninth. 0:08:24.201 --> 0:08:25.801 The stamp was a mystery. 0:08:25.921 --> 0:08:28.961 Because if Brittany had printed the stamp and mailed the 0:08:29.041 --> 0:08:31.481 letter on the twenty ninth. That would mean that the 0:08:31.481 --> 0:08:35.080 police's entire timeline could be off by at least twenty 0:08:35.081 --> 0:08:39.040 four hours, which would mean, presumably that police would have to. 0:08:39.001 --> 0:08:40.401 Talk to everyone again. 0:08:41.601 --> 0:08:48.241 Could there be another explanation for the posthumous postmark. One 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.960 of the big things that we revealed last week was 0:08:51.001 --> 0:08:54.160 that Britney's apartment was much easier to access than had 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.040 been initially reported. Maggie told us she believed that the 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.441 killer could have been waiting in her apartment when she 0:09:00.521 --> 0:09:04.601 got home. Britney's killer could have accessed her apartment in 0:09:04.680 --> 0:09:09.201 multiple ways, through the building shared attic, from Britney's second 0:09:09.201 --> 0:09:13.121 floor balcony that was open, or through Britney's front door, 0:09:13.721 --> 0:09:16.401 which was unlocked when Lydia went into check on her. 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.920 Lydia also mentioned that Britney's apartment was in the back 0:09:19.961 --> 0:09:22.160 of the complex, so it would have been a place 0:09:22.161 --> 0:09:25.361 where someone could have gotten into more easily without being seen. 0:09:26.521 --> 0:09:28.721 We looked through a ton of old. 0:09:28.521 --> 0:09:31.401 Cases to find out if there were any similar attacks 0:09:31.401 --> 0:09:34.961 to Britney's one where the killer gott into someone's apartment 0:09:35.041 --> 0:09:36.800 to rob or sexually assault them. 0:09:37.641 --> 0:09:39.441 It turned out there were a lot. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.721 Of attacks in Tulsa during that time, including several high 0:09:42.721 --> 0:09:45.841 profile cases, or the killers were not caught for a 0:09:45.921 --> 0:09:50.241 long time. In October of two thousand and five, news 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:54.200 headlines in Tulsa stated that a serial rapist was terrorizing 0:09:54.241 --> 0:09:57.881 the town and he was very active between two thousand 0:09:57.921 --> 0:10:00.921 and four and two thousand and five, the same time 0:10:01.001 --> 0:10:13.601 period when Brittany was murdered. This assailant hadn't killed anyone, 0:10:13.721 --> 0:10:17.761 at least not anyone that police knew of, but NBC 0:10:17.881 --> 0:10:20.601 News reported the man had been breaking into holmes for 0:10:20.641 --> 0:10:24.560 two years and raping young women and girls. There were 0:10:24.641 --> 0:10:27.841 seven victims that authorities knew about at that time, but 0:10:28.041 --> 0:10:32.161 they estimated there could be more. His youngest victim was 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.601 only two years old. The rapist mo was breaking into 0:10:36.641 --> 0:10:40.321 homes that were unlocked. The Tulsa Police Chief day Ben 0:10:40.881 --> 0:10:43.280 told news outlets that the rapist had gotten into the 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:46.201 two years old home by climbing in through an unlocked 0:10:46.201 --> 0:10:50.801 bedroom window, all while her mother slept in the next room. 0:10:51.641 --> 0:10:54.680 Last week, we talked to Britney's friend, Lydia. She told 0:10:54.761 --> 0:10:57.721 us that over the years she has spoken to detectives 0:10:57.761 --> 0:11:01.001 multiple times. She has tried to the best of her 0:11:01.041 --> 0:11:03.961 ability to help figure out what happened to her friend. 0:11:04.921 --> 0:11:08.041 She said she does remember hearing rumors about a serial 0:11:08.161 --> 0:11:11.721 rapist in Tulsa back around the time when Britney was murdered. 0:11:12.601 --> 0:11:15.481 I've talked to detectives throughout the years, and I've booked 0:11:15.481 --> 0:11:18.681 the pictures and I never really noticed anybody or anything. 0:11:19.121 --> 0:11:22.761 And for some reason, I remember hearing that at the 0:11:22.841 --> 0:11:26.441 time there might have been a serial rapist in the area. 0:11:26.801 --> 0:11:28.841 That it's been a long time agoing out remember ifoun 0:11:28.881 --> 0:11:29.721 was ever true. 0:11:30.521 --> 0:11:34.160 Police did find a lead on at least one Tulsa rapist. 0:11:34.561 --> 0:11:38.001 In that NBC interview, police confirmed that the Tulsa rapist 0:11:38.121 --> 0:11:41.561 DNA matched victims from crime scenes from February of two 0:11:41.601 --> 0:11:45.040 thousand and four and May of two thousand and four. Police 0:11:45.081 --> 0:11:47.560 described the man as a white male with brown hair, 0:11:47.721 --> 0:11:51.321 approximate age early twenties to early thirties, with a stocky 0:11:51.321 --> 0:11:55.001 build five foot seven inches to six feet tall, and 0:11:55.081 --> 0:11:58.601 in February of two thousand and six, Tulsa police arrested 0:11:58.641 --> 0:11:59.241 a suspect. 0:11:59.641 --> 0:12:01.241 His name was Gary Graham. 0:12:02.561 --> 0:12:06.081 Through DNA technology, they were eventually able to link him 0:12:06.081 --> 0:12:08.881 to twelve different attacks, and he was hit with over 0:12:08.961 --> 0:12:14.081 forty felony charges, including first degree rate rate by instrumentation, 0:12:14.361 --> 0:12:20.801 attempted rate, lewd molestation, kidnapping, forcible sodomy, sexual battery, burglary, 0:12:21.001 --> 0:12:25.281 and possession of child porn. Gary Graham pleaded no contest 0:12:25.361 --> 0:12:28.321 to thirteen of the charges and the rest were dismissed. 0:12:28.801 --> 0:12:32.641 In return, he got two life sentences to run consecutively, 0:12:33.001 --> 0:12:37.280 plus another one hundred and eighty years in prison. After 0:12:37.321 --> 0:12:40.721 his sentencing, one of his victims, Catherine Hall, talked about 0:12:40.721 --> 0:12:43.881 how when she was fifteen years old, she woke up 0:12:43.921 --> 0:12:46.521 to find Gary in her room. He put a knife 0:12:46.561 --> 0:12:49.601 to her throat and told her that if she wasn't quiet, 0:12:49.801 --> 0:12:53.761 he would kill her, and then he sexually assaulted her. 0:12:54.601 --> 0:13:00.161 There were some similarities between Gary Graham's crimes and Britney's attack, 0:13:01.001 --> 0:13:04.041 but there were also some differences. For one thing, the 0:13:04.121 --> 0:13:06.881 Tulsa rapist seemed to choose the path of least resistance. 0:13:07.361 --> 0:13:10.801 He did not beat his victims. Instead, he either selected 0:13:10.881 --> 0:13:13.920 victims who were young enough to subdue, or used a 0:13:14.041 --> 0:13:17.361 knife or other weapon to keep them quiet too terrified 0:13:17.361 --> 0:13:22.041 to move. Brittany was also not beaten. In fact, there 0:13:22.041 --> 0:13:25.440 were basically no defensive wounds on her body. So it's 0:13:25.641 --> 0:13:28.601 possible that her killer did use a weapon and attempted 0:13:28.601 --> 0:13:32.801 to sexually assault her, and then maybe something made him stop. 0:13:33.481 --> 0:13:35.721 Maybe it was the fact that she was having her period, 0:13:35.921 --> 0:13:38.041 or maybe he heard a noise, maybe there was some 0:13:38.121 --> 0:13:39.081 other sort of interruption. 0:13:39.921 --> 0:13:40.921 We just don't know. 0:13:41.721 --> 0:13:44.721 It's also possible, by the way, that she was sexually assaulted, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.681 so we can't be sure. Gary Graham talked to a 0:13:48.681 --> 0:13:51.881 reporter from News on six, and in that interview, he 0:13:51.961 --> 0:13:56.001 completely denied any involvement in the serial rape cases. He 0:13:56.041 --> 0:13:59.201 told the reporter quote, I didn't do this. I don't 0:13:59.201 --> 0:14:01.681 look like that guy. I wouldn't do this. I have 0:14:01.721 --> 0:14:04.441 two kids of my own. I would kill somebody if 0:14:04.481 --> 0:14:06.001 they touched either of my kids. 0:14:06.241 --> 0:14:07.841 End quote. 0:14:07.881 --> 0:14:10.721 Gary insisted that the whole thing was a set up 0:14:10.761 --> 0:14:13.841 by the police and that he was being framed. He 0:14:13.961 --> 0:14:17.841 even mentioned true crime shows to News on six, saying, quote, 0:14:18.201 --> 0:14:20.481 how do you take a swab Monday night and get 0:14:20.481 --> 0:14:21.441 it back Wednesday? 0:14:21.881 --> 0:14:22.761 That's impossible. 0:14:23.241 --> 0:14:26.281 I watched Discovery Channel in Court TV, and those big 0:14:26.361 --> 0:14:30.401 labs in California don't get it back that fast end quote. 0:14:30.441 --> 0:14:32.881 Gary was convicted of the assaults, and in two thousand 0:14:32.921 --> 0:14:36.041 and seven he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms 0:14:36.041 --> 0:14:39.801 in prison plus one hundred and eighty years. That's where 0:14:39.801 --> 0:14:43.441 he remains to this day. He was never officially linked 0:14:43.481 --> 0:14:48.401 Totney's case. We found another case that was similar to Britney's. 0:14:48.881 --> 0:14:52.961 This one occurred years later in twenty seventeen, but some 0:14:53.001 --> 0:14:57.521 of the circumstances were similar to what happened with Britney. Also, 0:14:58.161 --> 0:15:00.441 this case we're going to talk about in my opinion 0:15:00.961 --> 0:15:05.281 highlights the problems in Oklahoma with DNA testing delays, which 0:15:05.361 --> 0:15:09.721 was also an issue for Britney's case. In twenty seventeen, 0:15:09.961 --> 0:15:12.921 a nineteen year old named Kelsey Tenant was killed when 0:15:12.961 --> 0:15:17.201 a man brutally attacked her in her apartment. Kelsey lived 0:15:17.281 --> 0:15:20.921 near sixty fifth Street in Mingo, right across the street 0:15:21.041 --> 0:15:25.281 from Britney Phillips apartment complex. We've spoken to Kelsey's mother 0:15:25.641 --> 0:15:28.001 and she told us that on the day she was murdered, 0:15:28.361 --> 0:15:31.521 Kelsey had been at work at Metro Appliances and more. 0:15:32.361 --> 0:15:34.841 She got a break around three pm and went home 0:15:34.961 --> 0:15:37.841 to watch some reruns of Friends, but when she got 0:15:37.841 --> 0:15:41.721 inside her apartment. Police believe someone was waiting for her. 0:15:42.601 --> 0:15:45.601 Her attacker was in the process of robbing her apartment. 0:15:46.361 --> 0:15:49.761 Kelsey's mother, Michelle, said that her killer was throwing things 0:15:49.841 --> 0:15:53.441 into a trash bag. After Kelsey walked in and interrupted 0:15:53.481 --> 0:15:56.441 the burglary, he viciously turned on her. 0:15:56.841 --> 0:15:58.361 He beat and strangled her. 0:15:59.121 --> 0:16:02.561 Kelsey's mother said that Kelsey's killer used a lamp chord 0:16:02.681 --> 0:16:07.001 to strangle her. Then as she lay there dying, he 0:16:07.121 --> 0:16:10.521 continued gathering up her stuff and throwing it into the 0:16:10.561 --> 0:16:11.161 trash bag. 0:16:12.041 --> 0:16:14.601 There were just several items in a trash bag and 0:16:14.641 --> 0:16:16.201 a shoe that had blood. 0:16:15.881 --> 0:16:19.521 On it that she had been wearing in the little lamp. 0:16:19.681 --> 0:16:22.681 He used the cord for it. The strangler, so it 0:16:22.841 --> 0:16:25.481 was in the bag, and just random items like that 0:16:25.641 --> 0:16:27.881 that had any kind of evidence that there had been 0:16:27.961 --> 0:16:28.601 a struggle. 0:16:29.041 --> 0:16:30.361 He had it in a trash. 0:16:30.161 --> 0:16:34.361 Bag and he had actually tossed it out onto the patio. 0:16:35.681 --> 0:16:40.201 At some point, Kelsey's boyfriend, Riley Allen, got worried because 0:16:40.201 --> 0:16:42.641 she wasn't answering his calls, so he went to her 0:16:42.681 --> 0:16:46.801 apartment to check on her and walked into a horrific scene. 0:16:46.961 --> 0:16:49.881 Kelsey was laying motionless on the floor and the killer 0:16:50.121 --> 0:16:53.721 was still inside the apartment. The killer then turned on 0:16:53.841 --> 0:16:57.561 and attacked Riley and strangled him as well, this time 0:16:57.641 --> 0:17:01.601 with his hands. Riley passed out and the killer fled 0:17:01.601 --> 0:17:05.160 the scene. Riley recovered soon after and called for help. 0:17:06.120 --> 0:17:10.161 He and Kelsey were both rushed to the hospital. Riley 0:17:10.281 --> 0:17:14.600 miraculously ended up with only minor injuries, but Kelsey was 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.400 another story. By the time she got to the er, 0:17:17.761 --> 0:17:20.921 she was already in critical condition. She was brain dead, 0:17:21.281 --> 0:17:24.360 and she was pronounced officially dead a few hours later. 0:17:25.521 --> 0:17:28.801 Riley helped police identify the killer, and it turned out 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.201 that even though this man was a stranger to Kelsey, 0:17:31.681 --> 0:17:33.920 he was not a stranger to her neighbors at the 0:17:33.961 --> 0:17:38.641 apartment complex. His name is Gregory Eperson. He was homeless 0:17:38.681 --> 0:17:40.881 at the time and was staying with a friend who 0:17:40.961 --> 0:17:44.961 lived in the apartment right next door to Kelsey's. Later, 0:17:45.120 --> 0:17:48.681 Kelsey's mother said police had discovered that Kelsey's attacker had 0:17:48.681 --> 0:17:51.600 been friends with that neighbor, and that this friend had 0:17:51.641 --> 0:17:55.881 been allowing him to crash at her apartment. Kelsey's mom, Michelle, 0:17:55.921 --> 0:17:59.401 also told us Kelsey had seen Gregory around the apartment 0:17:59.441 --> 0:18:02.361 complex and that he gave her the creeps. 0:18:03.441 --> 0:18:06.201 So the neighbor's store at Kelsey's store were both in 0:18:06.241 --> 0:18:12.121 an alcove together. Now the apartment complex security cameras did 0:18:12.201 --> 0:18:15.841 not have security on her particular building. 0:18:16.401 --> 0:18:17.600 That he was seen. 0:18:17.441 --> 0:18:22.121 Going around checking doors throughout the complex, and Kelsey had 0:18:22.161 --> 0:18:25.241 crossed house with him a few times because he did 0:18:25.361 --> 0:18:29.521 frequent that apartment and told a friend that. 0:18:29.721 --> 0:18:33.121 He gave her the creeps, Michelle said. 0:18:33.121 --> 0:18:36.441 The neighbor testified in court that she and Kelsey shared 0:18:36.441 --> 0:18:40.081 an air conditioning unit, and Michelle also told us Kelsey 0:18:40.121 --> 0:18:43.721 had been having issues with her air conditioning unit. Michelle 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.920 said that one possibility that police had considered was that 0:18:47.041 --> 0:18:50.521 perhaps Gregory could have posed as a maintenance man and 0:18:50.641 --> 0:18:53.281 use that as an excuse to try and access apartments. 0:18:54.441 --> 0:18:58.601 Kelsey's murder, according to law enforcement, seemed to be completely 0:18:58.641 --> 0:19:03.080 a crime of opportunity at the time. Tulsa Police Sergeant 0:19:03.161 --> 0:19:07.001 Dave Walker described the horrific attacks and murder as being 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:11.080 due to an interrupted burglary to Tulsa World Daily, there's 0:19:11.121 --> 0:19:14.241 not much information out there on Gregory Eperson. He was 0:19:14.281 --> 0:19:17.041 forty one years old when he was arrested for Kelsey's murder, 0:19:17.121 --> 0:19:19.961 and he had a criminal history. He had previously been 0:19:20.001 --> 0:19:24.401 convicted of second degree burglary, driving under suspicion, obstructing an officer, 0:19:24.561 --> 0:19:29.120 and transporting an open container, but no serious felonies. He 0:19:29.241 --> 0:19:31.880 was described as a father of two who seemed to 0:19:31.921 --> 0:19:35.881 be between places to live. We did do some research 0:19:35.921 --> 0:19:39.120 and we found out Gregory was living in Tulsa in 0:19:39.121 --> 0:19:40.361 two thousand and four at. 0:19:40.281 --> 0:19:41.360 The time of Britney's attack. 0:19:42.241 --> 0:19:44.600 He was linked to an address about a ten minute 0:19:44.641 --> 0:19:47.761 drive away from Brittany's, but since he appears to have 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:51.401 led a pretty transient lifestyle, to be honest, it's hard 0:19:51.441 --> 0:19:56.121 to pinpoint exactly where he was. But shockingly, it came 0:19:56.161 --> 0:19:59.841 out later that Kelsey's murder was not the first time 0:19:59.921 --> 0:20:02.921 that Gregory Eperson had been connected with the murder in Tulsa. 0:20:03.721 --> 0:20:06.721 In September of two thousand and eight, Gregory's landlord, Ray 0:20:06.761 --> 0:20:11.201 Johnson Junior, disappeared. Ray Johnson Junior ran a used car 0:20:11.241 --> 0:20:14.601 shop at six thousand North Peoria. His vehicle was found 0:20:14.681 --> 0:20:17.360 in front of his workplace, and there was blood inside 0:20:17.401 --> 0:20:20.600 the trunk of the car, blood that investigators said the 0:20:20.641 --> 0:20:21.521 trunk had been. 0:20:21.441 --> 0:20:22.281 Cleaned with bleach. 0:20:23.961 --> 0:20:27.080 Even though this homicide happened in two thousand and eight. 0:20:27.881 --> 0:20:31.801 Charges weren't filed against Gregory until July tenth, twenty fifteen. 0:20:32.681 --> 0:20:36.200 At that time, Tulsa Police Sergeant Dave Walker put out 0:20:36.201 --> 0:20:39.521 a wanted notice for Gregory Epperson, and shortly after that, 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.641 Gregory turned himself in. He was arraigned on July seventeen, 0:20:43.801 --> 0:20:48.360 twenty fifteen, and charged with first degree murder. In court, 0:20:48.761 --> 0:20:52.521 police said they believed Gregory Epperson had shot and killed 0:20:52.641 --> 0:20:55.561 Ray Johnson, thrown his body into the trunk of a car, 0:20:55.801 --> 0:20:59.801 and dumped the body into a creek. However, Ray Johnson's 0:20:59.801 --> 0:21:04.241 body was never found. According to an affidavit, police had 0:21:04.281 --> 0:21:07.120 a witness. This witness claim they had gone over to 0:21:07.161 --> 0:21:10.361 Gregory Eperson's house sometime in September of two thousand and eight. 0:21:10.601 --> 0:21:13.160 The witness said when he got there, he said that 0:21:13.161 --> 0:21:16.001 Gregory was holding a bucket of bleach, that there was 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.481 blood on the ground and a body on the side 0:21:18.481 --> 0:21:22.281 of Gregory's house. The witness said that Gregory was hosing 0:21:22.321 --> 0:21:25.441 down his driveway to get rid of the blood. Then 0:21:25.641 --> 0:21:28.640 he claimed Gregory put a gun to his head and 0:21:28.761 --> 0:21:30.880 forced him to help put the body in the trunk. 0:21:31.761 --> 0:21:36.281 But then in January of twenty sixteen, the DA dropped 0:21:36.321 --> 0:21:40.840 the charges against Gregory Eperson. Later media reports said this 0:21:41.041 --> 0:21:43.840 was due to the fact that investigators never found Ay 0:21:43.881 --> 0:21:47.201 Johnson's body. They said there was a lack of evidence. 0:21:48.201 --> 0:21:52.681 News Channel nine interviewed Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Coonsweiler. 0:21:53.201 --> 0:21:57.120 He said, quote, the prosecution of Gregory Jerome Eperson for 0:21:57.201 --> 0:22:01.001 the death of Ray Johnson was discontinued due to significant 0:22:01.001 --> 0:22:04.201 concerns about the lack of corroborating evidence to convict him. 0:22:04.561 --> 0:22:05.080 End quote. 0:22:06.161 --> 0:22:10.880 One problem was DNA, one newspaper said, quote DNA checks 0:22:10.921 --> 0:22:13.360 to connect that blood and hair took a while to 0:22:13.401 --> 0:22:17.680 come back, so charges were dropped end quote. That's the 0:22:17.721 --> 0:22:20.401 line I've read a few times, and I wonder why 0:22:20.441 --> 0:22:24.001 did it take over seven years to get DNA back 0:22:24.041 --> 0:22:27.761 on this case. There were also no eyewitnesses to the 0:22:27.801 --> 0:22:31.321 actual death. The DA said the witness was a convicted felon, 0:22:31.641 --> 0:22:33.761 and that that witness had only told the story about 0:22:33.761 --> 0:22:36.681 Gregory Eperson after he was arrested for another crime. 0:22:37.521 --> 0:22:39.201 Another issue the DA said they. 0:22:39.121 --> 0:22:42.360 Had was that the witness's story about finding the body 0:22:42.401 --> 0:22:44.840 and being forced at gunpoint to help dispose of it 0:22:44.881 --> 0:22:48.241 couldn't be corroborated by any other witnesses or by any 0:22:48.281 --> 0:22:54.241 other evidence, So in twenty sixteen, Gregory Eperson walked away 0:22:54.401 --> 0:22:58.481 a free man. After the news broke about Kelsey Tenants 0:22:58.561 --> 0:23:02.521 murder in twenty seventeen and news organizations started looking around 0:23:02.561 --> 0:23:06.961 into Gregory Eperson's past, they learned that neither Kelsey's brutal 0:23:07.041 --> 0:23:10.360 killing nor the disappearance of Ray Johnson were the first 0:23:10.401 --> 0:23:14.241 time that Gregory Eperson had been suspected of murder. Police 0:23:14.321 --> 0:23:18.201 also stated Gregory Eperson was the suspect and yet another murder, 0:23:18.241 --> 0:23:21.681 a third murder of his landlord, John Baker, who was 0:23:21.721 --> 0:23:26.360 reported missing in twenty ten. John Baker's body was found 0:23:26.601 --> 0:23:30.881 a few months later by Lake Keystone. Tulsa Police homicide 0:23:30.921 --> 0:23:34.880 Sergeant Dave Walker told news reporters that the last person 0:23:34.961 --> 0:23:37.841 known to have talked to John Baker was Gregory Eperson, 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:40.001 who at the time was living in one of John's 0:23:40.001 --> 0:23:43.761 rental houses. But by the time investigators found John baker 0:23:43.881 --> 0:23:47.521 body at that lake, the physical evidence had deteriorated, so 0:23:47.641 --> 0:23:50.881 in the end, they did not find enough usable evidence 0:23:50.961 --> 0:23:55.161 to charge Gregory Eperson with anything, which meant that Gregory 0:23:55.161 --> 0:23:59.041 Epperson could have very possibly gotten away with murder twice 0:23:59.281 --> 0:24:02.080 by the time he broke into Kelsey Tenant's apartment, and 0:24:02.161 --> 0:24:05.481 he was already in his forties. Could he have committed 0:24:05.521 --> 0:24:10.241 other crimes or other murders over the years. After Gregory 0:24:10.281 --> 0:24:12.681 was charged with Kelsey Tenant's murder and the attack on 0:24:12.681 --> 0:24:16.080 her boyfriend Riley, the prosecution announced that they were seeking 0:24:16.121 --> 0:24:19.361 the death penalty in connection with Kelsey's murder. This would 0:24:19.401 --> 0:24:22.201 have been the first case in Oklahoma where someone was 0:24:22.321 --> 0:24:25.160 charged with murder and could receive the death penalty in 0:24:25.281 --> 0:24:29.841 many years, and Kelsey's mother, Michelle, said that the family 0:24:29.881 --> 0:24:32.121 got a shock when they showed up for their court 0:24:32.161 --> 0:24:35.321 hearing before the scheduled trial and discovered that Gregory Eperson, 0:24:35.641 --> 0:24:39.281 who had previously denied any involvement in Kelsey's murder, was 0:24:39.321 --> 0:24:40.081 pleading guilty. 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:45.001 We were set to start the jury trial in December, 0:24:45.801 --> 0:24:49.961 and I believe that it was late September early October 0:24:50.681 --> 0:24:54.521 when we went for the court hearing. We're a couple 0:24:54.521 --> 0:24:57.641 of hours away, So when we got there, we went 0:24:57.761 --> 0:25:02.521