# Cold Cases With Shocking Answers | 214

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 26 Apr 2026, 43 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5510343857.mp3

Thanks everyone for watching and listening. Don't forget follow, rate the podcast and leave a comment with other cases you'd like to see. Or just leave a comment saying where you're watching from or simply saying "I'm doing my part." Episode 214 of the true crime podcast btw. 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 unsolved mysteries, true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories, forensic evidence

## Transcript

[0:00] When Teresa Skow failed to show up for her nursing shift on
[0:03] October 27th, 1986, her mother went to check on her and
[0:08] uncovered a nightmare. Teresa, a 29 year old nurse and
[0:12] mother, was found brutally slain in her Lakeland, FL home.
[0:17] The violent crime shocked the community and devastated
[0:20] Teresa's family. Yet, despite an intensive
[0:23] investigation, the perpetrator remained unidentified for 37
[0:28] years. The question of who ended the
[0:30] life of Teresa went unanswered until modern DNA technology
[0:35] finally revealed the truth. A newly licensed registered
[0:41] nurse and single mom, Teresa had an 8 year old son who was the
[0:45] center of her world. She was known for her
[0:48] compassionate and giving nature. Those who knew her described her
[0:53] as warm hearted and dedicated to caring for others.
[0:57] Tragically, it was in her own home that this young woman's
[1:00] life was violently cut short. On October 27th, 1986, Teresa
[1:08] returned to her Lakeland duplex after finishing a night shift at
[1:12] the hospital. She spoke by phone with her
[1:15] mother, Betty, around 2:30 PM to ask if Betty could pick up her
[1:19] son from school later that day. That was the last time anyone
[1:24] heard from Teresa. When Teresa failed to show up
[1:27] for her 7:00 PM nursing shift that evening, her family grew
[1:31] worried. The hospital alerted her mother
[1:34] that Teresa hadn't arrived for work, so Betty drove to her
[1:37] daughter's home to check on her. By 8 or 9, the house was dark
[1:41] and silent, and no one answered the door.
[1:45] The front door was locked, so Betty used a credit card to pry
[1:48] it open and let herself in. Inside, she discovered a
[1:54] horrific scene. Teresa lay on the living room
[1:57] floor in a pool of blood, brutally stabbed to death.
[2:01] Her throat had been slashed so severely that it nearly severed
[2:05] her head, and the wounds on her hands and arms showed she had
[2:09] fought desperately against her attacker.
[2:12] Detectives determined that the attack was motivated by the
[2:15] perpetrators desire to indecently assault Teresa.
[2:19] However, he wasn't able to complete the act, likely due to
[2:23] Teresa putting up a much more serious fight than he
[2:25] anticipated. Unfortunately, outside, a heavy
[2:32] rainstorm blew through that night, potentially washing away
[2:35] any footprints or other traces the perpetrator left around the
[2:38] house. Police canvassed the
[2:40] neighborhood and questioned everyone living nearby, hoping
[2:43] for a lead. Teresa's sisters later recalled
[2:46] that she had mentioned a creepy neighbor who once showed up at
[2:49] her door with a hastily potted flower and gave her an uneasy
[2:53] feeling. However, she hadn't known the
[2:56] man's name, so that hint never led to anything concrete at the
[3:00] time. Sheriff's detectives launched an
[3:05] investigation but quickly hit a wall.
[3:07] They interviewed Teresa's friends, ex boyfriends,
[3:10] relatives and neighbors, but no evidence linked anyone to the
[3:14] crime. One of the neighbors questioned
[3:17] was 33 year old Donald Douglas who lived directly behind
[3:21] Teresa's home. Douglas answered all their
[3:24] questions calmly and had no visible injuries from any
[3:28] struggle, so he wasn't considered a suspect and was
[3:32] quickly eliminated from contention.
[3:35] What nobody knew at this time was that Douglas was that creepy
[3:38] neighbor who had awkwardly presented a flower to Teresa.
[3:43] With no eyewitnesses and no weapon found, the investigators
[3:47] had little to go on beyond the physical evidence.
[3:52] Crucially, forensic technicians had collected the drops of blood
[3:55] that weren't Teresa's and preserved them as evidence.
[3:59] In the late 1980s, DNA profiling was new and not widely
[4:04] available, but detectives hoped that someday this blood would
[4:08] lead to the perpetrator. Years later, as DNA technology
[4:13] advanced, the sample was entered into the FB is database of DNA
[4:17] profiles. No match was found.
[4:20] The DNA didn't match any profile in the system.
[4:24] That meant the person who left that blood, presumably the perp,
[4:28] had never been arrested and therefore wasn't in the
[4:31] database. Eventually, investigators
[4:34] accepted that, barring some unforeseen breakthrough, the
[4:37] perpetrator would likely walk free for the remainder of his
[4:40] days. In 2022, decades after the trail
[4:46] had gone cold, investigators took a fresh approach using
[4:50] forensic genetic genealogy. The Polk County Sheriff's Office
[4:55] teamed with Othram, a private lab specializing in forensic
[4:59] genetic genealogy for cold cases.
[5:02] Othrum's analysis of the unknown blood identified distant
[5:06] relatives of the suspect through genealogical databases.
[5:13] One surprising discovery in this DNA family tree was a hidden
[5:17] branch and out of wedlock child born in the 1940s.
[5:21] That few in the family knew about this long ago secret meant
[5:25] the suspect had distant kin in the database that wouldn't have
[5:29] been obvious from his immediate family.
[5:32] Tracing that lineage eventually LED investigators to a family
[5:36] who had lived right behind Teresa's house in 1986.
[5:40] All signs pointed to one man in that family, Teresa's former
[5:44] neighbor Donald Douglas. Nearly 37 years after Teresa's
[5:51] death, detectives finally had the evidence to name the
[5:54] perpetrator once and for all. They obtained ADNA sample from
[5:58] one of Donald Douglas's adult children and confirmed that the
[6:01] blood from the crime scene belonged to Douglas.
[6:05] The mild mannered neighbor, who had escaped suspicion in 1986
[6:09] was unmasked as the perpetrator after all these years.
[6:14] Unfortunately, Douglas could never be brought to justice.
[6:18] He had died of natural causes in 2008 at the age of 54, so he was
[6:23] never charged. The sheriff announced that the
[6:26] case was solved and said Douglas likely became violently enraged
[6:30] when Teresa spurned his advances.
[6:33] In hindsight, the creepy neighbor Teresa once spoke of
[6:37] was indeed Donald Douglas, who had so adeptly fooled
[6:40] investigators by pretending to be meek and mild.
[6:45] Teresa's mother, now 84 years old, said she was grateful to
[6:50] have lived to see the perpetrator identified.
[6:53] Her sisters acknowledge that the discovery couldn't erase their
[6:56] grief. But at least they have answers
[6:59] and no longer have to wonder who committed this horrific act.
[7:07] On a cold February night in 1987, a small Michigan community
[7:12] was shaken by a crime so brutal that it would haunt
[7:15] investigators for decades. 30 year old Roxanne Wood was found
[7:20] slain in her own kitchen, her throat slashed.
[7:25] For 35 years, the question of who did this to Roxanne remained
[7:29] unanswered, a chilling whodunit that many feared would never be
[7:33] solved. The case seemed unsolvable,
[7:37] stalled by bygone forensic limits and dead end leads.
[7:41] Yet against all odds, a tiny fragment of DNA eventually
[7:46] cracked the case and unmasked the cruel perpetrator.
[7:50] This is the story of Roxanne Wood, the decades long quest for
[7:54] justice, and the extraordinary forensic breakthrough that
[7:59] finally brought a killer to justice.
[8:03] Born and raised in Niles, MI, Roxanne graduated high school in
[8:07] the 1970s and married her high school sweetheart, Terry Wood,
[8:12] soon after. By 1987, Roxanne was in her
[8:17] early 30s, enjoying life's simple pleasures.
[8:21] Friends and family described her as fun loving and generous, the
[8:25] kind of person who made everyone feel like her best friend.
[8:29] She loved tending to her rose bushes in the garden and was
[8:33] known for sharing homemade family recipes with neighbors.
[8:37] On weekends, Roxanne and Terry often spent time with friends.
[8:42] One of her favorite songs was Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive,
[8:46] a fitting anthem for a spirited woman who embraced life.
[8:50] And normally I wouldn't have included this last little fact,
[8:54] but that exact song came on my rotation about 15 minutes after
[8:58] reading that. February 19th, 1987 began like
[9:05] any other day for Roxanne and Terry Wood, but it ended in
[9:09] unimaginable tragedy. That evening, the couple went
[9:13] out for dinner and then headed to their local bowling alley for
[9:16] a league night with friends. Since they had driven in
[9:20] separate cars, Roxanne left the bowling alley alone a bit
[9:24] earlier than Terry, planning to head home and get some rest.
[9:28] Sometime after Roxanne arrived home, horror struck in the early
[9:33] morning hours of February 20th. Terry walked through the door of
[9:38] their house only to stumble upon a blood chilling scene.
[9:43] He saw Roxanne's lifeless body was sprawled on the kitchen
[9:47] floor, and it was evident that she had been there for some
[9:50] time. He frantically called 911 and
[9:53] conveyed the gruesome reality of the scene to the dispatchers.
[10:00] When police and medics arrived, it was evident that Roxanne had
[10:04] been brutally attacked. Investigators later determined
[10:08] that she had been incidentally assaulted before her throat was
[10:11] cut. The crime scene offered only a
[10:13] handful of clues. A broken frying pan was found
[10:17] nearby, suggesting it might have been used to bludgeon Roxanne
[10:20] during a struggle. Further, an empty slot in a
[10:26] kitchen knife block hinted that the weapon came from her own
[10:29] home. Notably, as the cops secured the
[10:32] house, a bloody kitchen knife was later discovered stashed in
[10:36] the freezer. Detectives also collected A
[10:39] biological sample from Roxanne's body and noticed a smear of
[10:43] blood on the outside of the back door, possibly left by the
[10:46] perpetrator as he fled. There were no obvious signs of
[10:52] forced entry into the house, raising the eerie possibility
[10:55] that Roxanne may have unwittingly let the man in, or
[10:59] that he entered through an unlocked door.
[11:02] The violence visited upon Roxanne and the supposed safety
[11:06] of her home was shocking, and the quiet neighborhood was
[11:09] immediately on edge knowing a predator was at large.
[11:13] Or at least they would have been if they didn't all seem to
[11:16] believe that Terry Wood was responsible for this brutal act
[11:19] of violence. In cases like this,
[11:23] investigators often look first at those closest to the victim.
[11:27] And in Roxanne's case, that was her husband, Terry Wood.
[11:32] From the very start, Terry fell under a cloud of extreme
[11:35] suspicion. He was the one who found
[11:37] Roxanne's body, and with no forced entry, police wondered if
[11:42] the crime could have been an inside job.
[11:46] According to reports, Terry's behavior that night added to
[11:49] investigators doubts. He was said to have become
[11:52] agitated or belligerent with first responders.
[11:56] Further, when brought to the station for routine questioning,
[12:00] he quickly asked for a lawyer. To detectives in 1987, this
[12:06] seemed like potentially guilty behavior, a husband trying to
[12:09] shield himself behind an attorney barely an hour after
[12:13] his wife's slaying. Now, before I go on any further,
[12:19] it's extremely obvious that the cops thought Terry was their
[12:22] man, and they just seem to have stopped investigating the case
[12:26] after they locked in on him. I'm going to tip my hand a bit
[12:30] here and tell you right now that Terry had absolutely nothing to
[12:33] do with Roxanne's slaying. It seems likely to me that Terry
[12:37] understood that the cops weren't asking him friendly questions in
[12:41] an attempt to actually solve the crime.
[12:44] To them, the crime was solved, Terry did it, and they just
[12:50] needed to break him. Under these circumstances, it
[12:53] makes perfect sense why Terry would want to lawyer up right
[12:56] away and may have been less cooperative than usual.
[13:02] Indeed, one investigator bluntly told Terry that he believed that
[13:07] Terry had done it. Terry adamantly maintained his
[13:10] innocence, and Roxanne's family stood by him.
[13:14] Her younger sister Janet never believed Terry was capable of
[13:17] such a heinous act and insisted the real perp was still out
[13:21] there in the shadows. Nonetheless, with no alternate
[13:25] suspects and scant evidence, Terry remained the primary
[13:29] suspect for decades in many people's eyes.
[13:33] Whispers followed him everywhere he went in town and according to
[13:37] some reports, both investigators and locals referred to him as
[13:41] Slash. It was a bitter reference to a
[13:44] man they had believed had slain his wife.
[13:48] As time went on and Leeds dried up, it seemed like the real
[13:51] predator had gotten away and an innocent man's reputation was
[13:56] forever marred by the loss of his wife.
[14:02] Despite focusing in on Terry in 1987, police were unable to
[14:06] charge anyone for Roxanne's slaying.
[14:09] The authorities only have one opportunity to take a run at
[14:12] their man, and the evidence just wasn't sufficient to justify
[14:16] attempting to do that to Terry. Aside from the physical evidence
[14:21] at the scene, which in those days could only be analyzed with
[14:25] relatively primitive forensic methods, there were no
[14:28] eyewitnesses and no obvious motive.
[14:32] The case gradually went cold, leaving Roxanne's family in
[14:36] limbo. By the late 1990s, DNA profiling
[14:41] had emerged as a game changing tool in criminal investigations
[14:45] and evidence from Roxanne's case was tested.
[14:49] There was DNA from the unknown offender, but even in the 1990s
[14:54] there was no match in any database and the sample was
[14:58] small and degraded. In 2001, Michigan State Police
[15:06] took a fresh look at the case, hoping new techniques might
[15:09] succeed where earlier efforts failed.
[15:12] Unfortunately, that review also ended without a breakthrough,
[15:16] and Roxanne's file returned to the unsolved case shelves.
[15:20] By 2020 / 33 years had passed since Roxanne's slaying and
[15:26] technology had advanced dramatically.
[15:29] Michigan State Police decided to reopen the cold case once again
[15:33] in 2020 in a last ditch effort to find the attacker.
[15:39] The turning point in this cold case arrived when detectives
[15:42] turned to genetic genealogy. In 2020, investigators sent what
[15:48] remained of the DNA sample from Roxanne's case to Identifinders
[15:52] International, a California-based company
[15:55] specializing in forensic genealogy.
[15:58] This was a long shot. The sample was tiny and
[16:01] degraded, consisting of only a few human cells worth of DNA.
[16:06] In fact, it was the smallest amount of DNA ever attempted for
[16:10] this kind of analysis, roughly 3% of the quantity normally
[16:15] required to build a genetic profile based on the tech at the
[16:18] time. They painstakingly process the
[16:21] minute DNA fragments and against the odds they managed to extract
[16:26] enough genetic information to work with.
[16:29] It was a groundbreaking achievement in its own right.
[16:32] For the first time, such a low quantity DNA sample was
[16:36] successfully used to generate a genealogical lead in a criminal
[16:41] case. One name jumped out Patrick
[16:46] Wayne Gillam, a man who, as fate would have it, lived just across
[16:51] the state line in South Bend, IN, only a few miles from Niles,
[16:55] MI. Gillham had never been on the
[16:58] radar back in 1987, but now he was the focus of an intense
[17:03] investigation. Patrick Gillham was 67 years old
[17:09] in 2021, living a quiet life in Indiana.
[17:14] But detectives digging into his past quickly found red flags.
[17:18] Gillham had a criminal history of attacks against women.
[17:22] In fact, back in 1980, he had been arrested for breaking into
[17:26] a woman's home in Indiana and assaulting her in a chillingly
[17:30] similar attack. The victim in that prior case
[17:33] survived the ordeal and testified against him, leading
[17:37] to his conviction for burglary and indecent assault.
[17:41] He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but ended up serving
[17:45] only about 7 years before being released on parole.
[17:51] And yeah, this just makes me shake my head and question
[17:54] what's wrong with our justice system.
[17:57] There's people who've committed nonviolent offenses, who've
[18:00] served less than this guy did for committing one of the worst
[18:04] crimes imaginable. Unfortunately, the next time
[18:08] this predator struck, he would remember a twisted lesson from
[18:11] this crime. Don't leave behind any
[18:14] witnesses. Just a few months after he
[18:19] regained his freedom, Gillham slipped into Michigan and,
[18:22] police believe, ended the life of Roxanne Wood.
[18:26] Tragically, he chose to slay Roxanne after assaulting her to
[18:31] ensure she could never identify him and put him behind bars
[18:34] again. Armed with their new suspect,
[18:40] Michigan State Police needed concrete proof to secure an
[18:43] arrest. Genetic genealogy had pointed to
[18:46] this potential perpetrator, but they required a direct DNA
[18:50] sample from him to confirm it was his DNA.
[18:53] At the 1987 crime scene. In May 2021, an undercover
[18:59] surveillance team tailed Patrick Gillum for days, waiting for an
[19:03] opportunity to collect something he touched or discarded.
[19:07] They soon noticed that he was a smoker, which presented the
[19:10] perfect chance a thrown away cigarette could contain his DNA
[19:14] rich saliva. One day, investigators observed
[19:18] Gillham flick a cigarette butt from his truck window and seized
[19:22] it. But that attempt hit a snag when
[19:24] the lab found the DNA on it wasn't a match.
[19:28] Reports indicate that the cop may have picked up the wrong
[19:31] cigarette butt. And since I'm running on a
[19:34] deficit of Simpson's references lately, boy, I really hope
[19:38] someone got fired for that blunder.
[19:42] Undeterred, the team tried again.
[19:45] A state trooper cleverly struck up a conversation with Gillum
[19:48] outside a laundromat, even smoking a cigarette with him to
[19:52] avoid arousing suspicion. He watched closely as Gillum
[19:56] finished his smoke and tossed the butt aside.
[19:59] The moment Gillum walked away, the trooper scooped up the still
[20:03] warm cigarette butt with gloved hands.
[20:05] And this time, the evidence was airtight.
[20:09] Lab results confirmed a perfect DNA match between him and the
[20:13] unknown male DNA from Roxanne's kit, conclusively tying him to
[20:17] the crime scene after 30-4 years.
[20:23] With the DNA match in hand, detectives moved quickly.
[20:27] In July 2021, they invited the perp to a police precinct under
[20:32] the pretense of discussing an old case without immediately
[20:36] letting on that he was the prime suspect.
[20:39] They showed him a photo of Roxanne Wood and asked if he
[20:42] knew her. Gillum casually claimed he did
[20:45] not and soon grew uneasy, eventually saying I got to talk
[20:50] to my lawyer. The cops bided their time a
[20:53] little longer to firm up the case, and on February 17th,
[20:57] 2022, almost exactly 35 years after Roxanne's slaying, police
[21:03] finally arrested Patrick Gillum. Confronted with the DNA
[21:09] evidence, he reportedly professed confusion, at one
[21:13] point telling investigators that he had no idea how his
[21:16] biological material could have got there.
[21:19] Wrong answer, Patrick. Wrong answer.
[21:25] However, in March 2022, rather than go through a lengthy trial,
[21:29] Gillum agreed to a plea deal. He pleaded no contest to 2nd
[21:33] degree slaying, which meant he did not admit guilt in words,
[21:37] but accepted the punishment as if he were guilty.
[21:41] In practical terms, a no contest plea leads to a conviction and
[21:45] sentence just like a guilty plea without the defendant explicitly
[21:49] saying he committed the crime. By taking this deal, he likely
[21:53] avoided a potential life sentence while the prosecution
[21:57] reduced the risk of an adverse finding at trial.
[22:01] After all, the prosecution is required to prove its case
[22:04] beyond a reasonable doubt, and one hiccup on cross examination
[22:09] could have resulted in this guilty man walking free.
[22:14] At his sentencing on April 25th, 2022, Patrick Gillham, then 67
[22:20] years old, was ordered to serve 23 to 50 years in prison for the
[22:25] slaying of Roxanne Wood. Under this sentence, he will not
[22:28] be eligible for release until he serves at least 23 years behind
[22:32] bars, at which point he would be around 90 years old.
[22:37] In all probability, the prison cell will be where he spends the
[22:41] rest of his life. Unfortunately, if he had
[22:44] received a proper punishment for his first major crime, Roxanne
[22:48] would have still been alive. In court.
[22:54] The tearful convict offered a brief apology and said he was
[22:58] quote, UN quote, sorry and praying for forgiveness.
[23:01] But his words rang empty to Roxanne's family.
[23:05] One of Roxanne's brothers coldly remarked that it's common for
[23:08] people like Gillham to, quote, find Jesus only after they've
[23:12] been caught. He questioned why he didn't
[23:15] voluntarily come forward when he had the chance if he was truly
[23:18] so remorseful about this horrific act.
[23:21] The obvious answer, of course, is that he wasn't remorseful for
[23:24] the ACT, but rather the fact that he got caught yet again for
[23:28] committing the same sort of sick offense.
[23:33] Roxanne's case, once deemed unsolvable, became a landmark
[23:37] example of modern forensic science triumphing over time.
[23:41] It showed how persistence, innovative genetics, technology,
[23:46] and old fashioned detective work could unite to solve even the
[23:50] coldest of cases. Roxanne Wood's story is tragic,
[23:55] but it now stands as a testament that justice delayed didn't
[23:59] necessarily have to mean justice denied.
[24:02] It also sent a strong message to people out there who committed
[24:05] heinous offenses in the 1980s or even earlier.
[24:10] It's only a matter of time before you're rotting in a cell.
[24:18] On a warm June morning in 1975, a family out on a fishing trip
[24:23] near the Florida Everglades made a horrifying discovery.
[24:27] Lying side by side along a remote canal bank were the
[24:30] bodies of two teenage girls. They were identified as 14 year
[24:35] olds Darlene Zetterauer and Barbara Schreiber, inseparable
[24:40] best friends from Hollywood, FL, who had vanished just the day
[24:44] before. Witnesses last saw the girls the
[24:47] previous afternoon, happily climbing into a white van on a
[24:51] busy St. in Hollywood, likely hitchhiking as they often did.
[24:56] That ordinary summer outing turned tragic.
[24:59] By the next day, both teens had been subject to the worst form
[25:03] of assault imaginable and then shot.
[25:07] Their brutal slaying shocked the community and baffled
[25:09] investigators. For nearly 50 years the case
[25:13] remained ice cold, a haunting mystery with no answers, until
[25:18] modern DNA technology and dogged police work finally brought the
[25:22] truth to light. Darlene Zetterauer and Barbara
[25:27] Schreiber were more like sisters than friends.
[25:31] Both had just finished 8th grade in June 1975 and were looking
[25:35] forward to starting high school in the fall.
[25:39] That summer, the 14 year old girls spent their days together
[25:42] in Hollywood, a suburban city in Broward County.
[25:47] On June 18th, 1975, the girls set off to celebrate the
[25:52] carefree start of summer vacation.
[25:55] They planned to spend the night at another friend's house, a
[25:58] routine sleepover that should have been perfectly safe.
[26:02] The pair were seen sitting on a bench along Sterling Rd.
[26:05] laughing and talking. A white van pulled up to them,
[26:10] and being typical teens of the era when hitchhiking and
[26:13] accepting rides was not uncommon, they hopped in without
[26:17] hesitation. That was the last time anyone
[26:20] saw Darlene and Barbara alive. When the girls didn't arrive at
[26:26] their friend's house or return home, their families grew
[26:30] concerned. The next morning, concern turned
[26:33] to tragedy. A fisherman and his family
[26:36] navigating a canal at the edge of the Everglades spotted
[26:40] something awful on the muddy bank.
[26:42] It was the two bodies of Darlene and Barbara.
[26:45] The girls. Bright futures had been brutally
[26:48] stolen. In an instant, two families were
[26:51] destroyed and an entire community was gripped with fear.
[26:57] Broward County detectives launched an intensive
[26:59] investigation and unsurprisingly, they threw the
[27:02] full weight of the state into solving this disgusting crime.
[27:06] Dozens of officers, crime scene investigators, and forensic
[27:10] experts poured their efforts into finding who had taken
[27:14] Darlene and Barbara's lives. A friend of the girls later
[27:20] recalled seeing the two get into the van and even remembered
[27:23] being invited along, an offer she declined.
[27:27] This confirmed with certainty that the girls were lured into
[27:29] the vehicle. This eyewitness account
[27:32] confirmed that the girls were likely lured by someone they
[27:35] thought they could trust, but it still didn't reveal the
[27:38] culprit's identity. The Broward Sheriff's Office
[27:42] canvassed the area, appealed for tips and even examined other
[27:46] crimes for connections. Yet the trail soon went cold.
[27:53] At the time, South Florida was in the grip of what the media
[27:57] dubbed the flat tire slayings. This is a string of unsolved
[28:01] attacks on young women in 1975 and 76, many of whose bodies
[28:06] were found near canals. Darlene and Barbara's slayings
[28:10] fit the pattern in some ways, and authorities wondered if a
[28:13] serial predator might be praying on women and girls in the area.
[28:18] The theory was that a predator was cruising local roads,
[28:21] possibly deflating victims tires or offering rides, then
[28:26] attacking and dumping bodies by remote waterways.
[28:30] Fear spread through the community and parents warned
[28:33] their children to be extra cautious.
[28:36] However, no definitive link or suspect emerged at the time.
[28:41] As months turned into years, the case of Darlene and Barbara
[28:45] remained unsolved. Eventually it was filed as a
[28:49] cold case. Evidence stored away leads
[28:52] exhausted and no justice for two innocent teenagers.
[28:58] In 2019, the department established A dedicated cold
[29:02] case unit to re examine unsolved cases like this one.
[29:07] Investigators carefully reviewed the old evidence with fresh
[29:10] eyes. Crucially, the girl's clothing
[29:13] from 1975 had been preserved, and it held the key to a
[29:17] breakthrough. Technology had advanced
[29:20] dramatically since the 1970s. What was impossible back then
[29:25] was now routine, and the authorities turn to advanced DNA
[29:29] profiling techniques. The cold case team decided to
[29:34] test the evidence using a specialized DNA extraction
[29:37] device called an MVAC, which can collect minute genetic material
[29:42] even from decades old fabric. In 2022, the crime lab
[29:47] scientists applied this new technique on Darlene's blouse,
[29:51] painstakingly vacuuming for any biological traces left by the
[29:55] perp. The work paid off, and from the
[29:59] tiny DNA fragments recovered, analysts developed a full DNA
[30:03] profile of an unknown man. It was a Eureka moment.
[30:08] After nearly 50 years, they finally had a genetic
[30:11] fingerprint of one of the perpetrators.
[30:16] Using criminal DNA databases and genealogical research, the
[30:20] profile was soon matched to a name.
[30:23] Robert Clark Keebler emerged as the prime suspect.
[30:27] Keebler was a convicted felon with a long record of violence,
[30:30] including armed robbery and indecent assaults spanning from
[30:34] California to South Florida. Astonishingly, despite his
[30:38] disturbing rap sheet, he had never been on the radar for the
[30:42] 1975 slayings until the DNA hit connected him to the crime.
[30:48] By the time of this discovery, however, Keebler was beyond the
[30:51] reach of law enforcement. He had died in 2019 of natural
[30:56] causes. Still, this revelation brought a
[30:59] surge of energy to the investigation and a measure of
[31:03] solace that the mystery was at last unraveling.
[31:08] The genetic testing revealed another disturbing twist.
[31:11] Though the cops had always thought there could have been
[31:14] two men involved in the crime, based on the testimony of
[31:17] witnesses, it turned out that they were correct.
[31:23] By 2025, the cops announced that a second suspect had been
[31:27] identified, Larry Stein. Like Keebler, Stein had a
[31:32] history of serious crime, and he was actually an associate of
[31:36] Keebler's during the 1970s. Back in 1975, both men were in
[31:42] their early 20s and already had rap sheets full of violence.
[31:46] Investigators discovered that Stein and Keebler's criminal
[31:49] records included burglaries, assaults, even prior instances
[31:54] of abducting women in Florida and beyond.
[31:57] They were exactly the type of predators who could commit such
[32:00] a heinous act. Tragically, but perhaps
[32:04] thankfully, Stein would also never face justice in a
[32:07] courtroom. He had died in 2005 at the age
[32:11] of 50, his life ending long before the DNA evidence could
[32:15] tie him to this crime. With Keebler and Stein
[32:20] identified as the culprits, the Broward Sheriff's Office finally
[32:24] declared the case solved. Advancements in DNA testing and
[32:29] solid detective work had brought definitive answers in the
[32:32] slayings of Darlene Zetterauer and Barbara Schreiber.
[32:39] Importantly, investigators don't believe that Keebler and Stein
[32:43] were responsible for any of the other flat tire slayings in the
[32:46] area. Despite initial speculation
[32:49] decades ago, those other cases remain officially unsolved and
[32:53] likely unrelated, at least according to the authorities.
[32:58] The 1975 double slaying of Darlene and Barbara appears to
[33:02] have been an isolated, opportunistic crime committed by
[33:05] two individuals who crossed paths with the girls on that
[33:09] fateful day. Detectives suspect the men may
[33:12] have targeted the teens simply because they were there and
[33:16] willing to accept a ride. While the cops couldn't be sure
[33:20] why the crime was committed, the primary motive seemed to be the
[33:23] Commission of an indecent assault.
[33:26] The slayings were simply a way for these two sick men to cover
[33:29] up their messed up crimes. For over 3 decades, a mystery
[33:37] haunted the city of Garden Grove, CA.
[33:40] On a quiet night in May 19, 8723, year old Shannon Lloyd was
[33:46] found brutally slain in the house where she rented a room.
[33:51] The discovery of her lifeless body, evidence of a violent
[33:55] struggle and a life cut short, sent shock waves through the
[33:59] community and left police puzzled and desperate for
[34:02] answers. Who would do this to a young
[34:05] mother in her own home? And would the perpetrator ever
[34:08] be brought to justice? Those questions lingered for
[34:12] decades until a remarkable breakthrough in forensic science
[34:16] finally cracked the case wide open.
[34:21] Shannon was a mother to a young son and had a steady boyfriend
[34:24] who often visited her. She lived in a rented room on
[34:28] Donna Lane in Garden Grove, an Orange County suburb, where she
[34:32] was striving to build a good life for herself and her kid.
[34:35] By all accounts, Shannon was a devoted mother who was just
[34:39] trying her best, making the violent end to her life all the
[34:43] more heartbreaking. Late on May 21st, 1987, the
[34:49] unthinkable happened. Shannon's roommate, a 70 year
[34:53] old man who shared the house, found her slain shortly before
[34:57] midnight. Panic ensued as he rushed to a
[35:00] neighbor's home to call the police and report the horror he
[35:04] had discovered. When officers arrived, they
[35:08] found a grim scene. Shannon had been indecently
[35:11] assaulted and strangled to death in her own room.
[35:15] There were no obvious signs of forced entry and nothing of
[35:18] value appeared to be missing, which immediately deepened the
[35:22] mystery. It seemed that Shannon had
[35:25] either willingly let her perpetrator into the house, or
[35:29] perhaps knew the person who did this to her.
[35:32] Crucially, in 1987, forensic DNA analysis was still in its
[35:36] infancy, so investigators didn't have today's powerful genetic
[35:40] tools at their disposal. With limited technology and no
[35:45] eyewitnesses, they had to rely on traditional detective work,
[35:49] which unfortunately yielded no answers at the time.
[35:55] Detectives work tirelessly in the aftermath of the ACT.
[35:58] They canvassed the neighborhood and interviewed everyone who
[36:01] knew Shannon, from her boyfriend to local acquaintances.
[36:05] Neighbors told police that while Shannon was mostly friendly and
[36:09] kind, there had been occasional visitors who raised eyebrows.
[36:13] One neighbor mentioned that some rough looking men would
[36:16] occasionally stop by. On a few occasions, police had
[36:20] even been called to the house prior to the attack, though the
[36:23] reasons for those visits remained unclear, at least to
[36:27] the public. All of these details gave
[36:30] investigators leads to chase, but none led to an immediate
[36:34] suspect. Despite the thorough
[36:37] investigation, the case frustratingly remained unsolved.
[36:41] Within a short time, it went cold.
[36:44] A terrifying predator was on the loose and no one knew who he was
[36:49] or if he would strike again. Then in 1989, another tragedy
[36:56] struck in Orange County that would later prove to be
[36:59] connected. On February 19th, 1989, the body
[37:04] of 27 year old Renee Cuevas was discovered along a road near the
[37:09] now closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine.
[37:13] Renee had been slain under strikingly similar
[37:16] circumstances. Like Shannon's case, Renee's
[37:19] also went unsolved, but investigators took note of the
[37:23] eerie resemblance between the two crimes.
[37:28] It wasn't until 2003 that a crucial clue finally linked the
[37:32] two slayings. Forensic scientists at the
[37:35] Orange County Crime Lab re examined DNA evidence from both
[37:39] crime scenes and made a startling discovery.
[37:43] The DNA profile from Shannon Lloyd's perpetrator matched the
[37:46] person who had slain Renee. In other words, the same unknown
[37:51] man had committed both crimes. This revelation meant a serial
[37:56] predator had been at large in Orange County since the late
[37:59] 1980s, responsible for taking two young women's lives.
[38:05] Armed with this knowledge, authorities finally had a trail
[38:08] to follow, but the perp's identity was still a mystery.
[38:13] The DNA profile was uploaded to the national Criminal Database,
[38:17] but it didn't match any known offender at the time.
[38:21] The case remained cold, but investigators were now more
[38:24] determined than ever, knowing that solving either woman's
[38:27] slaying would solve both. By the late 2010's, a
[38:34] revolutionary investigative tool emerged in forensic science,
[38:39] genetic genealogy. This technique gained national
[38:42] fame in 2018 for helping identify the original Night
[38:46] Stalker, proving that even decades old DNA could lead to a
[38:50] name by tracing family trees. In 202134 years after Shannon's
[38:57] life was taken, Orange County's Investigative Genealogy Unit
[39:02] turned its attention to the DNA from her case.
[39:05] Using advanced DNA analysis and family tree mapping, they
[39:09] identified a possible suspect, Reuben Smith.
[39:15] The name meant nothing to the original detectives, but it was
[39:19] about to unravel the whole mystery.
[39:21] Smith had lived in Orange County in the 1980s, not far from where
[39:26] the slayings occurred, before eventually moving to Nevada.
[39:31] Digging into his past, detectives discovered he had a
[39:33] history of violence. In July 1998, more than a decade
[39:39] after Shannon's slaying, Ruben Smith was arrested in Las Vegas
[39:43] for attempting to end the life of a woman after an indecent
[39:46] assault. That victim heroically fought
[39:50] off her attacker and survived, later recalling the evil she
[39:54] sensed in him and how she knew she had to fight for her life.
[39:59] Although Smith was charged for that 1998 attack, the case never
[40:04] went to trial. The charges were eventually
[40:07] dismissed and he walked free. However, during that arrest, Las
[40:12] Vegas authorities collected ADNA sample from Smith, a sample that
[40:17] would turn out to be the key to solving Shannon's case.
[40:21] And as expected, this would of course crack Renee's case open
[40:24] as well. While it never ended up in any
[40:27] databases, it was stored by the Las Vegas cops.
[40:32] Once Smith's name surfaced through genetic genealogy,
[40:35] investigators pulled his 1998 DNA sample from storage and
[40:40] compared it to the DNA from the crime scenes.
[40:43] It was a perfect match, conclusively tying Reuben Smith
[40:47] to both slayings. The mystery of who ended the
[40:50] life of Shannon Lloyd was solved.
[40:53] It was the same man who had eluded justice all those years
[40:56] while leaving a trail of violence from Orange County to
[40:59] Las Vegas. Reuben Smith would never face a
[41:04] jury for his crimes, and given the platform we're on, let's
[41:08] just say that he carried out the penalty for a capital offense on
[41:11] himself in July 1999. His grim end meant he escaped
[41:16] justice before anyone realized the full enormity of what he had
[41:20] done. For the families of Shannon
[41:23] Lloyd and Renee Cuevas, learning the identity was a bittersweet
[41:27] revelation. On one hand, they finally knew
[41:30] who was responsible and that he could never hurt anyone else.
[41:36] On the other, Smith's death meant there would be no criminal
[41:39] trial, no opportunity to see him held accountable in court.
[41:46] Still, the resolution brought a measure of closure that had been
[41:49] denied for so long. Shannon's brother expressed
[41:53] gratitude for the detectives and forensic experts who never gave
[41:56] up on his sister's case, and he took comfort that the truth was
[42:00] finally known. Likewise, Renee Cuevas relatives
[42:04] thanked law enforcement for their persistence and said that
[42:08] knowing the perpetrator's name brought some peace to their
[42:11] family. Investigators have also begun
[42:14] looking into the possibility that Smith had other victims
[42:17] during his years in California and Nevada, an open question
[42:21] they continue to pursue. Right now, though, no other
[42:26] crimes have been confirmed, though the authorities have
[42:29] confirmed they are investigating him as a potential serial
[42:32] perpetrator. That said, I find it difficult
[42:38] to believe that Reuben Smith struck twice in the late 80s,
[42:42] then attempted to do the same thing in 1998 with no attacks in
[42:46] between. Generally, these sorts of
[42:49] predators are emboldened when they get away with it to the
[42:52] level that Smith did. Notably, he wasn't even a
[42:56] suspect in the case of Shannon or Renee and had never been
[42:59] interviewed or taken in for questioning further.
[43:05] It's somewhat suspicious that he took the approach that he did in
[43:08] 1999 unless he thought there was credible evidence out there that
[43:12] could turn up further victims. Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here
[43:17] with a quick reminder to like, subscribe and share this video
[43:20] and also hit that notification bell.

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