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1:47

A gruesome crime rocks a

1:50

small town community. She

1:52

discovered the head of

1:54

a decapitated victim. The

1:57

torso was cut in half arms.

1:59

are just Who does that

2:01

kind of thing? Who is that

2:03

monstrous? The

2:06

hunt for answers will uncover the

2:08

story of a pastor's widow with

2:10

a new lease on life. She

2:13

kind of spread her wings. She was making

2:15

friends and living her own life. But

2:17

did this innocent grandma put her

2:20

faith in the wrong people?

2:23

It turned out he was married. The

2:27

story of a sweet woman had no idea

2:29

who she was taking in. And

2:31

she was deceived. She

2:33

was lied to. They brought this

2:36

woman in and she looked normal. I

2:39

started thinking, is this the woman you're

2:41

looking for? October

2:57

6th, 1989. It's a

2:59

quiet afternoon just outside of Springfield,

3:01

Missouri as school teacher Jean Walker

3:03

drives home from a long day

3:06

at work. She's

3:08

driving home. She just happens to notice

3:10

off to the side a black bag.

3:13

It was about two feet into the

3:15

roadway, so she pulled over. She's

3:18

curious enough to open it and

3:20

she made a horrible process of coming.

3:25

Inside she found a set of garden shears.

3:28

Also inside was a knife and

3:30

some bloody paper towels. And

3:33

that obviously alarms her very much. Jean

3:38

quickly flags down a passing neighbor.

3:42

She talks with her neighbor who is the chief of

3:44

police for her town. As

3:46

the chief inspects the bag with the bloody

3:48

items just a few feet away, Jean

3:51

makes a far more horrific

3:53

discovery. She noticed

3:55

something that she hadn't noticed at first. Wrapped

3:57

up in a trash bag, she

3:59

had discovered it. The upper torso,

4:01

the harsh. Torso

4:06

with cut in half. Had

4:09

been decapitated. And.

4:19

Has. Officers arrived on the scene

4:22

and begin to search the

4:24

area. The horror escalates. They

4:27

discovered that they had over

4:29

decapitating woke. It

4:34

found a single gunshot wound to the back

4:36

of her head. The. Victim

4:38

appears to be an older

4:40

woman. But detectives need more

4:43

information to secure an Id.

4:45

They did a dry that their

4:47

police sketch artist had done from

4:50

had trying to help identify the

4:52

victim of. Describe it was

4:54

posted it a move in

4:56

efforts to locate disperse and

4:59

they didn't take long for

5:01

people start cause. Word

5:05

of the chilling discovery sense shockwaves

5:08

through the area especially for the

5:10

family of missing person will Not

5:12

plaster. My daughter called and she

5:15

said they said on the news

5:17

there was a money. He

5:21

was so out of the

5:23

blue. That this kind

5:25

of have all I knew it was a

5:28

body I didn't know getting a the other

5:30

details. I was scared.

5:34

Because I think in in some ways it

5:36

was in the back of my head that

5:38

this could be my mother. But

5:40

it won't admit. Born

5:47

in Ozark County, Missouri and nineteen

5:49

twenty three, Wilma Plaster was known

5:51

for her heart of gold. She

5:53

really wanted us to do the

5:55

right thing: to be good people,

5:57

to love God, and to love

5:59

the. them to love others.

6:02

For more than four decades, Wilma's

6:04

partner in life was a former

6:06

Naval pilot that she met at

6:09

the tender age of 15. They

6:11

were very young. Uh, daddy was

6:13

uh, 18 when they married. Mom

6:16

was 15. She turned 16 two

6:18

months later. They fell in

6:20

love. They went to the same church. I think that's

6:22

where they met. My dad volunteered to

6:24

go to the South Pacific with the Navy, where

6:27

he flew a variety of

6:29

aircraft, uh, at that time and

6:31

came home and decided he was going to become a

6:33

preacher. He dedicated his

6:35

life to preaching the gospel and

6:37

the pastoring churches. Wilma

6:42

reveled in the role of a

6:44

pastor's wife. As

6:46

a pastor's wife, she had to kind of get

6:49

out in the forefront, you know, and go with

6:51

dad wherever he needed to go and be with

6:53

him and, you

6:55

know, greet people and, and go see

6:57

sick people and grieve with

6:59

them as they're dying and all of that.

7:02

And, um, she, you know, she was compassionate.

7:05

Wilma also fit effortlessly into

7:07

another role, motherhood.

7:10

She for the most part stayed at home

7:12

and took care of our, uh, our family.

7:15

We were very, very close. I followed

7:17

her around like a puppy. Uh,

7:19

everywhere she went, I went. After

7:22

her four children moved out of the

7:24

house and started having children of their

7:26

own, Wilma was thrilled to take on

7:29

the role of grandmother. My

7:32

boys loved her. She was sweet

7:34

to them when she was around them. But

7:40

in 1984, after 45 years of marital bliss, tragedy

7:45

struck. My

7:48

father developed Lou Gehrig's disease,

7:50

amiotrophic lateral sclerosis and ALS,

7:53

and, um, and unfortunately succumbed

7:55

to the disease rather quickly.

8:00

He lived five months, 15 days

8:02

from diagnosis to death. My

8:04

mom tried to take care of him as best she could at

8:06

home, but it was hard on her. All

8:09

of a sudden, she's by herself. And

8:13

I think she felt lost. After

8:18

some time, Wilma met a woman

8:20

at church named Janice Cook, whose

8:23

husband had also recently passed away.

8:26

Janice was a widow also, and

8:29

so she and Janice became good friends. It

8:31

really, really helped her. At

8:34

60 years old, Wilma and Janice

8:36

started going out on the town

8:38

together. The lounges were,

8:40

most of them were, it was like

8:43

country line dancing. That's what she and Janice

8:45

got into, and they enjoyed

8:47

it. It was exercise. It was a

8:49

way to get out and meet

8:51

people. She's still a

8:53

pastor's wife, a pastor's widow. Her

8:56

idea of living a wild life

8:59

would not be what most of

9:01

us would think of. And it

9:03

looked like she was doing fine

9:05

with making friends and living her

9:07

own life. In

9:10

time, Wilma took another big

9:12

step. She had formed

9:15

a romantic relationship with a

9:17

man named Carl. She

9:19

had met him actually at one of

9:21

the country line dancing places. She

9:24

liked Carl, and that maybe

9:26

even loved Carl. He

9:28

was just amazingly sweet to her. Really

9:31

treated her nice, took good care of her.

9:36

Wilma seemed to be enjoying her third act

9:38

in life, but on October 3rd, 1989, her

9:41

children become worried when

9:45

they struggle to get a hold of her. The

9:48

last time I spoke to my mom was

9:50

on a Tuesday morning, and she said

9:52

she'd talked to me in a couple of days. I

9:55

called her a couple of times and didn't get a

9:57

hold of her. the

10:00

next day, didn't get a hold of her.

10:02

My mother always answered the phone and she

10:04

always let me know where she was going.

10:06

It registered in the back of my mind

10:08

that she's missing. Where

10:11

is she? On

10:16

Friday, October 6th, three days since

10:18

she last spoke with her mother,

10:21

Wilma's daughter, Linda, has just heard

10:23

news of a body discovered in

10:26

Springfield and she and her husband

10:28

begin to frantically call friends and

10:30

family. My brother-in-law, Mike

10:32

Baker, called and said something that

10:35

just stopped me in my tracks. And

10:39

he said, they found a body

10:41

outside of Springfield. I

10:44

said, there's something wrong, there is something

10:46

wrong. I don't know what it is,

10:48

but I prayed, like

10:52

crazy, that my mother was still

10:54

alive. Wilma's

11:00

worried family contacts authorities and detectives

11:02

ask them to come to the

11:04

station to look at the forensic

11:07

sketch broadcast by the news that

11:09

week. He

11:11

said, I need you to look at this,

11:14

Linda. And he

11:16

asked me to look at this paper. I

11:19

shoved it back to him and I said,

11:21

no, it's not her. Don't

11:23

make me look at it again. And

11:25

he pushed it back. I said, I can't. Of

11:28

course, by this time, I'm broken

11:30

down into a puddle. The

11:33

family is spared from having to

11:35

ID the body when dental records

11:37

come in from the medical examiner

11:39

on October 8th. There,

11:42

Jane Doe is identified as

11:44

widow Wilma Plaster. Drew,

11:51

dental record from Wilma Plaster

11:53

was positively identified. It

11:56

was a feeling like, I'll never forget, I felt like I

11:59

was a little bit tired. I was 30 some

12:01

odd years old. I was a father of

12:03

two boys, and I felt like an orphan.

12:05

It was just so hard

12:08

to believe. She was just a mother, a

12:11

grandmother. She was a

12:13

pastor's wife. She

12:16

was a good person. Why her? Who

12:19

could have done something to such a

12:21

sweet little lady? Coming

12:25

up... Is there more to this

12:27

elderly widow's person? She cried all

12:29

the way home, because she was

12:31

so betrayed by him. And

12:34

detectives uncovered a frightening scene. The

12:37

crime lab found blood residue there

12:40

a lot. It was

12:42

obviously the scene of the October

12:57

8, 1989. Two

13:00

days after a body was

13:02

found dismembered along a rural

13:04

roadside outside Springfield, Missouri, an

13:07

autopsy has just revealed

13:09

the victim is 66-year-old

13:11

Wilma Plaster. She

13:16

had been dumped along a

13:19

rural highway, like

13:21

yesterday's trash. And

13:24

it was like, who does that kind of thing?

13:27

Who is that monstrous? Detectives

13:32

pour over the autopsy results

13:34

hoping for a lead. Not

13:36

only was the victim decapitated, she was

13:39

shot in the head. That

13:42

ultimately was the cause of death,

13:44

was the bullet wound to the

13:46

head. It was a .38 caliber

13:48

that was used to shoot her. Chopping

13:52

the torso in half, removing the arms and legs.

13:54

All of that happened after she had been

13:56

set. The investigators

13:58

speculated that the killer had been shot. body up

14:00

into smaller pieces because then it would be easier

14:02

for them to move it and dispose of it.

14:07

To detectives, the gruesome disposal of

14:09

the body suggests the crime may

14:12

not be the work of a

14:14

stranger. It just didn't

14:16

seem like it was a random crime, that

14:18

someone would attack a stranger, kill them and

14:20

chop up their body like that. It

14:24

was a definite crime of

14:26

pre-meditation. That

14:31

afternoon, investigators sit down once

14:33

again with Wilma's children to

14:35

gain as much insight into

14:37

her life as possible. She

14:40

had no enemies. She

14:43

was well-loved. People were shocked. Wilma's

14:47

children tell detectives they should speak

14:49

to their mother's best friend Janice.

14:52

For more information about their mother's

14:54

day-to-day activities. They

14:57

were together, very good friends,

14:59

constant friends for almost right at

15:01

about six years. Wilma's

15:04

family states that the two friends hadn't

15:06

seen each other in a while but

15:08

kept in contact over the phone. Janice

15:11

had started to have a relationship with

15:13

a gentleman and was possibly

15:15

going to get married and mom

15:18

was feeling left out again. I

15:21

know that my mom was deeply disappointed.

15:24

She may have felt a little

15:26

abandoned. Janice

15:30

wasn't the only person Wilma had

15:33

recently distanced herself from. Wilma's

15:36

children explain that a few

15:38

weeks before Wilma disappeared, she

15:40

abruptly ended her romance with

15:42

Carl. She had started dating

15:44

Carl four years ago. Carl

15:46

was from Arkansas and

15:48

so he didn't live local. It

15:51

turned out he was married. She

15:54

broke up with him and she

15:56

told me later that she

15:58

cried all the way home. because she

16:01

was, she thought so betrayed by him.

16:06

After concluding the interview at the

16:09

station, detectives head to Wilma's home

16:11

in Branson in search of answers

16:13

for how this elderly woman met

16:15

such a horrific end. When

16:18

we entered the home, it looked

16:20

pristine. It even smelled

16:23

tidy. There was no

16:25

evidence of any struggle or anything

16:27

of that nature. Despite the

16:30

perfect facade, detectives are able

16:32

to prove that two items

16:34

found with Wilma's body, the

16:36

garden shears and knife, appear

16:38

to have originated from the home.

16:41

There is a knife missing here,

16:43

and it was that butcher, that

16:46

butcher's knife, a wooden handled knife

16:49

with a big heavy blade. They

16:52

also determined that Wilma Plasters, Chevy Beretta

16:55

was missing. There was no car in

16:57

the garage. Detectives

17:01

immediately put out an APB

17:03

on Wilma's vehicle and continue

17:05

processing the garage, where

17:07

they make a startling discovery. It

17:11

was pretty obvious the garage had

17:13

recently been cleaned, and so they

17:15

sprayed Luminol in the garage. They

17:19

found some blood in a swirling pattern

17:21

indicating that there might have been some

17:23

effort to clean blood off of

17:25

the floor of the garage. The

17:27

crime lab found blood

17:29

residue there, a lot

17:32

of blood. We felt

17:34

like the actual

17:36

decapitation and

17:38

body dismemberment occurred in the

17:41

garage of Wilma's house. It

17:44

was obviously the scene of a butchery.

17:51

Investigators fan out to speak with

17:54

neighbors, hoping they may have noticed

17:56

anything unusual in the last few

17:59

days. One neighbor recalls

18:01

hearing a loud pop on the

18:03

night of October 3rd. There

18:06

was a neighbor nearby Wilma

18:08

Plaster's home that heard

18:10

a loud bang like

18:12

a gun. It

18:15

was later in the night and it frightened

18:18

him to the point that he went

18:20

in his own garage and was looking

18:22

around for something that might have fallen.

18:25

He had no idea that it

18:28

was a gunshot. He just didn't put two and two

18:30

together. Another

18:32

neighbor recalls seeing a silver car

18:34

at Wilma's residence over the last

18:37

few days. They talked

18:39

with one of the neighbors who twice

18:41

could say she had seen a silver

18:44

car parked at Wilma's house and at

18:46

one point the car had pulled

18:48

into the garage. Detective

18:53

put out another APB for

18:56

the suspicious silver sedan. As

18:59

they await results, they tracked

19:01

down Wilma's former flame, Carl

19:03

Hughes. It's in our

19:05

best interest to identify everybody

19:08

involved and so he

19:10

agreed to talk even

19:12

though he was a potential suspect.

19:16

When they sit down with Carl,

19:18

detectives ask him point blank if

19:20

he knows anything about Wilma's death.

19:23

Carl was Wilma's boyfriend

19:25

who lived in Arkansas

19:28

and upon being contacted and

19:31

interviewed, he indicated that he

19:33

was home in Arkansas at

19:35

the time preceding her death.

19:39

When detectives press Carl about

19:41

a potential love triangle, Carl

19:43

claims his wife didn't know

19:46

about Wilma. It turned

19:48

out he was married. I don't think

19:50

she knew about my mother. Carl's

19:53

alibi is verified by his

19:55

wife. In addition, detectives find

19:57

no record of him owning a life.

20:00

Or renting a silver

20:02

car car did not

20:04

own a silver vehicle

20:06

described as being at

20:08

Wilma Plasters residence. That

20:10

helped eliminate him as

20:12

obsessed. With

20:16

coral cleared as a suspect,

20:18

detectors move on to another

20:21

member of rumors inner Circle

20:23

on October ninth, Nineteen Eighty

20:25

Nine. Three days after Wilmers

20:27

body was found detected sit

20:30

down with Janice, previously one

20:32

of Wilmers closest. Friends: Janice

20:34

Cook who is who

20:36

will move Blasters. Neighbor.

20:40

In Britain. And

20:48

mom and had. An

20:52

L sense to me. I

20:54

don't think James was ever a serious

20:57

suspect as he did. They might have

20:59

had, you know, your typical friendship tiffs.

21:01

I think they were good friends right

21:03

to the very end. Detectives

21:08

asked Janice if she knows if

21:10

anyone else was close with Wilma.

21:13

On a mission and friend. That's when

21:15

I found out about Surely Phillips. Shirley

21:18

was a friend that she met at

21:20

one of these country line dancing places

21:22

they're in Branson. Mom. Was

21:24

excited about having a new friend. Janice

21:27

ads are dating somebody in the can have

21:29

moved on away from their relationship and she

21:31

was sort of alone and so surely stepped

21:33

in and fill the gap. janice

21:37

says wilma and sixty three year

21:39

old shirley jill philips had become

21:42

inseparable over the last few weeks

21:44

i don't think their relationship was

21:46

all that law on my understanding

21:49

from what mom had said it

21:51

was maybe three weeks to months

21:53

is all she knew or detectors

21:56

ask janice what kind of car

21:58

surly to drive Shirley

22:01

Jo Phillips had a silver Cadillac. Coming

22:05

up... Detectives learn more

22:07

about Wilma's new friend, who

22:09

may be harboring a dark

22:12

friend. She told her what she

22:14

wanted to hear and man, she was in. Mom

22:18

took her in. And a

22:20

witness comes forward with a terrifying

22:22

realization. She was scared

22:24

out of her mind. She realized that she

22:27

probably was friends with

22:29

the killer. As

22:38

a SNAP listener, you know the world can

22:40

be a dangerous and unpredictable place. With every

22:43

case I learn about, I'm reminded how much

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24:22

Detectives in Springfield, Missouri are on the

24:24

hunt for the killer of 66 year

24:27

old grandmother Wilma Plaster.

24:31

During an interview with Janice Cook,

24:33

they learn that a new fixture

24:35

in Wilma's life, 53 year

24:37

old Shirley Jo Phillips, owns a

24:40

silver Cadillac matching the one seen

24:42

at Wilma's prior to her

24:44

disappearance. Obviously

24:46

that was the car seen by the

24:49

neighbor of Wilma Plaster.

24:52

That was a piece of evidence

24:54

that turned us more towards Shirley.

25:01

Shirley Jo Phillips was known for

25:03

her lively spirit and zest for

25:05

life. I just thought the

25:07

world of her and she just thought the world of me.

25:10

She just had the greatest laugh and

25:12

smile. She was

25:14

a very beautiful woman. Shirley

25:16

Jo's beauty had always captivated

25:19

the attention of men. She

25:21

worked in an office. My

25:23

aunt was dressed to the

25:26

nines, you know. She always, her

25:28

makeup was perfect. She

25:30

carried herself very elegantly. She was

25:34

very energetic. She had this

25:36

way about her, a smile and just a

25:38

personality that you were immediately attracted to. After

25:42

a brief marriage and subsequent divorce

25:45

during the 60s, Shirley Jo found

25:47

herself a young single mother to

25:49

a son, Glenn Buddy

25:52

Minster. She loved her son.

25:54

She took care of her son. I don't

25:57

think he really wanted for anything. Back

26:00

in the 60s, you know, she had jobs in

26:02

Wichita, she had jobs in Dallas. You

26:05

know, you can barely have an apartment or raise a

26:07

child when you don't have a husband. You

26:10

know, it's not an easy life. You

26:13

basically did what you had

26:15

to to get by. Faced

26:19

with many hardships, Shirley Jo found

26:22

other ways to provide for herself

26:24

and her son. My mother always

26:26

said, your aunt's kleptomaniac, she can't come in

26:29

the house without stealing something. So

26:31

we always watched out for, you

26:33

know, sticky fingers. Shirley

26:36

Jo's mother, Lela Kyle, did

26:38

not agree with her daughter's life choices

26:41

and wanted better for her. It was always

26:43

a combative relationship. She

26:45

didn't like my aunt's lifestyle.

26:48

My grandmother blamed her for her lifestyle.

26:51

It made for a very bad situation

26:53

between them. By

26:55

the fall of 1984, Shirley

26:58

Jo seemed to take another turn and

27:00

not for the better. She

27:03

wasn't as friendly, almost depressed.

27:05

There was a change in my aunt. She

27:08

was cold, no pulse,

27:11

no feelings. She

27:13

barely looked at me, wouldn't talk to me,

27:15

and I even commented to my grandmother,

27:18

said, what's the deal? And

27:20

she's like, your aunt just changed in a bad

27:22

way. Shirley

27:25

Jo started using her beauty to con men

27:27

for money. She would find men, take all

27:30

their stuff, go

27:33

to another state, and had a huge yard sale. She

27:36

usually chose men, but men no longer

27:38

availed themselves, and

27:40

she looked for other people. And once she found somebody, she

27:44

took them for everything she could. She's good. My

28:01

mom was an easy target. I

28:03

think she realized how lonely mom was,

28:05

because Shirley Phillips popped in there, and

28:07

she told her what she wanted to hear, and man, she

28:09

was in. Mom

28:12

took her in. It

28:14

isn't long before an informant contacts

28:16

police on October 10th. Nora

28:20

Martin was a friend of Shirley Jo Phillips. She

28:23

worked at a jeans factory in Harrison, Arkansas, which

28:25

is about 100 miles south of Springfield. She

28:29

had called the police saying, I think I

28:31

have evidence, and she was scared

28:34

to death. Detectives

28:38

rushed to the home of Nora

28:41

Martin. She

28:43

was frightened. She was shaking,

28:46

and she relays to the police that Shirley

28:49

had come down and

28:51

actually had spent a couple of days with

28:53

her. Nora tells detectives

28:55

that as soon as Shirley Jo had

28:58

arrived, she started cutting the passenger-side

29:00

seatbelt out of

29:02

her silver Cadillac. Shirley

29:04

said that the seatbelt wasn't retracting and it kept

29:07

getting caught in the door, so she was cutting

29:09

it out of the car so

29:11

that that wouldn't happen anymore. Nora

29:13

says after that, Shirley Jo suggested

29:16

they both take their cars to

29:18

the car wash. They

29:20

went to a car wash that was nearby. While the

29:22

two of them were at the car wash, Shirley

29:25

vacuumed her car out three separate

29:27

times and washed it twice. The

29:33

women then go back to Nora's and

29:35

they're watching the news, and

29:38

they see a report about the murder. Nora

29:41

told police that Shirley became very nervous and upset.

29:44

She said, my fingerprints are all over

29:46

Wilma's house. Though

29:49

Shirley Jo's behavior certainly seemed odd,

29:52

Nora admits she didn't think much of it

29:54

at the time. That is,

29:57

until she found some items Shirley Jo

29:59

had. had left behind. There's

30:02

a bunch of stuff stuffed under her

30:04

from porch and trash bags.

30:09

Inside the trash bag, police found

30:11

hundreds of checks belonging to Wilma

30:13

Pless. There were

30:15

some bloody towels. There were the floor

30:18

mats. There were other things from the

30:20

car they found. Receipt from Walmart

30:22

for cleaning supplies. This

30:25

person also found the

30:28

carpet that was cut out of

30:30

Shirley's trunk, which was deeply blood-stained.

30:32

And when it kind of dawned

30:34

on her what her friend had

30:36

done, she was

30:38

scared out of her mind. She realized

30:40

that she probably was friends

30:42

with the killer. Nora

30:48

hands over all the content left

30:50

behind by Shirley Jo and allows

30:52

detectives to search her home. That

30:55

is where they found the

30:59

gun. The gun that

31:01

the police found under the porch was a .38

31:03

caliber revolver. Ballistic testing

31:05

was later done in comparison with the

31:08

bullet fragments taken from Wilma Plaster's brain.

31:10

And the experts determined that those fragments

31:12

had come from that gun that was

31:14

found under the porch. So

31:17

it just kind of brought everything

31:19

together plus all the evidence of

31:21

the checks, the forged

31:23

check and the other checks from

31:26

Wilma. The gun,

31:28

however, is not registered to

31:30

Shirley Jo but to her

31:32

son, Glen Buddy Minster. Detectives

31:39

quickly call him into the station for

31:41

an interview, wondering if there

31:43

is a darker side to Buddy.

31:47

In the interview with Buddy, he was quite

31:50

candid. Here's the thing.

31:52

He's a thief. He'd steal from

31:54

me that, you know, murder. What

31:56

do you mean? It

31:58

didn't compute. Coming

32:03

up, detectives double down

32:05

on finding Shirley Joe and catch

32:07

a break. The police

32:09

arrived. They determined that this car

32:12

was Wilma Plaster's Chevy Verona. But

32:15

another discovery proves far more

32:17

shocking. They had recovered nine

32:19

pounds of human flesh at

32:22

a roadside park. This

32:24

case just exploded. October

32:35

10th, 1989. It's

32:38

been four days since 66-year-old

32:41

Wilma Plaster's dismembered body was

32:43

found alongside a roadway just

32:46

outside of Springfield, Missouri. Investigators

32:49

are now speaking with Buddy

32:52

Minster, the son of Wilma's

32:54

close friend, Shirley Joe Phillips.

32:58

In the interview with Buddy, he

33:00

had alibis. He had witnesses to

33:02

verify where he was. After

33:04

interviewing him, it seems the

33:07

murder of Wilma Plaster is

33:09

far beyond his usual crimes.

33:12

He'd been in jail off and on. He'd

33:14

went to prison. He'd break into a place.

33:18

But violence, murder... My

33:20

cousin wasn't like that. Buddy

33:24

was absolved from many involved.

33:29

Now detectives look back to

33:31

Buddy's mother, and the evidence

33:33

suggests that Shirley Joe Phillips had

33:35

been stealing from the late widow.

33:39

Police found hundreds of checks from

33:41

Wilma Plaster's account. They also were

33:43

able to determine that Shirley Joe's

33:45

fingerprints were on those checks. Investigators

33:48

basically asked us, is it plausible that your

33:50

mother would have written a $4,000 check to

33:53

Shirley Phillips? And

33:55

we all said, number one, it's not

33:57

plausible. And number two, that's not her

33:59

signature. detectives

34:03

reach out to Wilma's bank for

34:05

more information. Her bank account

34:08

had been totally framed. Her

34:11

bank account being empty

34:13

totally shocked us all. With

34:17

evidence beginning to point to

34:19

Shirley Jo's involvement, detectives catch

34:22

a lucky break when a

34:24

lead comes through on Wilma's Chevy

34:26

Beretta. The staff at the hotel

34:28

of the Ramada Inn in Springfield called police because

34:30

they had noticed a red Shirley Beretta had been

34:32

in their parking lot for several days and hadn't

34:35

been disturbed in any way. When

34:37

the police arrived, they determined that

34:39

this car was Wilma Plaster's Chevy

34:41

Beretta. But there was no

34:43

evidence of any struggle from the car.

34:48

While detectives decide their

34:50

next steps, something unexpected

34:52

happens. Shirley walked

34:54

into the police station and said,

34:57

I hear you're looking for me. And

35:00

sat down and started

35:03

talking. She

35:07

repeatedly would refuse to admit

35:09

that she wrote the check.

35:13

She would just say

35:15

she, referring to Wilma,

35:17

handed it to me. We

35:20

said, now tell us the

35:22

truth, Shirley.

35:25

Yes, tell us the truth. Even

35:28

though she was confronted in that manner

35:30

at times, she held her ground. She

35:33

wouldn't confess. Shirley

35:36

Jo insists that Wilma issued the

35:38

checks as payment for some of

35:40

her furniture. But detectives

35:42

aren't biting. It was

35:44

completely implausible that my mom would purchase

35:47

anything from Shirley for $4,000, any furniture.

35:51

She denied that she killed her friend. She

35:53

denied that she chopped up the body. She

35:55

just, you know, how could you possibly think

35:57

I did this? But

36:01

Shirley Jo tells detectives she might

36:03

know who did. Shirley

36:05

said that the two of them had gone to the

36:08

hotel bar at the Romata Inn in Springfield. She

36:10

made the statement that she was leaving

36:13

with a strange man. Investigators

36:16

ask Shirley Jo for a

36:18

handwriting sample to compare with

36:20

Wilma's forged signature, and

36:22

shockingly, she complies. From

36:26

the handwriting samples, the calligrapher determined

36:28

that the check for 4050 was

36:30

not signed by Wilma's last name.

36:38

That was not her handwriting, and

36:40

was confirmed as being Shirley's.

36:45

It just became pretty

36:48

much irrefutable in our minds that it

36:50

was Shirley Phillips. Shirley

36:53

Jo is detained on suspicion of

36:55

check forgery, and investigators

36:57

reach out to the bartender at the

37:00

Romata Inn to confirm Shirley

37:02

Jo's story. No

37:04

one at the hotel had seen the two women

37:06

there that night. That was just

37:08

where Shirley took Wilma's car later and left it.

37:11

And then she tried to make up some story to explain

37:13

why the car was there. Detectives

37:16

then issue a search warrant for

37:19

Shirley Jo's car, and unlike

37:21

Wilma's Chevy Beretta, this

37:23

car yields some damning

37:25

evidence. When Shirley came

37:27

to headquarters for the interview, she brought

37:30

the car with her and

37:32

provided a consent to search on

37:34

her Cadillac. Police found blood

37:37

in the front seat area of the car

37:39

and also in the trunk. Luminol

37:41

testing showed that there was blood

37:44

residue in the areas of the back seat,

37:46

and particularly under the... ...the

37:48

format of the vaccine. After

37:54

the luminol search of her car

37:56

showed evidence of a violent struggle,

37:58

a search of Shirley Jo's home. The

38:00

home also reveals the same type

38:02

of ammunition used in Wilma's

38:04

murder. In Shirley's

38:06

bedroom, police found numerous .38 caliber

38:09

bullet rings. The

38:11

evidence reconfirmed and tied

38:13

together with the series they were working from. On

38:20

October 12th, detectives arrest Shirley

38:22

Jo Phillips for the murder

38:24

of Wilma Plaster. We

38:26

knew she had decided to go in and

38:28

talk to the police. She

38:31

never left. It would have been

38:33

a hard, hard time. You're

38:36

so relieved you almost are exhausted.

38:43

Three weeks after Shirley Jo's

38:45

arrest, detectives get disturbing news

38:48

from the Oklahoma Bureau of

38:50

Investigation. It seems Wilma

38:53

may not have been Shirley Jo's

38:55

first victim. This

38:58

case just exploded. Mushrooms.

39:01

We were contacted by Broken

39:03

Arrow, Oklahoma. In reference

39:05

to nine pounds of human

39:08

flesh, they had recovered at

39:10

a roadside park. This

39:13

was recovered back on about Mother's

39:15

Day of that year. And

39:19

what it was, was four fingers of

39:21

a left hand, a part

39:24

of an upper lip, a

39:27

nose, an ear, and

39:30

other body parts. They

39:32

couldn't develop blood type or

39:34

DNA at that point. You

39:37

know, and the investigator brought us

39:39

the body parts. We,

39:41

of course, photographed them

39:43

and fingerprinted them. They

39:46

were able to then identify

39:48

her for sure as Leila Kyle

39:51

and Shirley's mom. It

39:55

seems 76-year-old Leila Kyle had

39:57

gone missing seven months earlier.

40:00

earlier. The story from

40:02

my aunt was she ran off with some guy. Well,

40:04

my grandmother, 76 years old with no

40:06

car, didn't meet a guy I'd run off with. It

40:09

was ironic because she had used exactly

40:12

the same language when she was questioned

40:14

about her mother's death. She

40:17

had saw her walk away with a strange man.

40:20

They were trying to tie the cases together,

40:23

but basically, you know, they couldn't get

40:25

enough evidence to do that. Because they

40:27

had enough evidence in the Wilma Plaster

40:29

case to go to trial, and

40:32

they felt very confident about that. Coming

40:37

up, a new

40:40

theory emerges that might just

40:42

let Shirley Joe walk free.

40:45

She clearly had her attorney go after

40:47

her own son. One of

40:49

the prosecutors referred to the defense strategy as

40:52

Shirley Joe offering up her own son as

40:55

a sacrificial lamb. She

40:58

was a very good friend of the defense strategy. She

41:01

was a very good friend of the defense strategy. In

41:05

February of 1992, Shirley

41:07

Joe Phillips danced trial for

41:09

the murder of her subordinate friend,

41:12

66-year-old Wilma Plaster.

41:15

They brought this woman in, and

41:17

she looked normal. It

41:20

was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen in my

41:22

life. She was a

41:24

middle-aged woman, attractive,

41:27

who seemed to be completely possessed

41:29

of herself. And

41:32

I started thinking about, is this the

41:34

woman who killed my mother? It

41:38

was unbelievable. Prosecutors

41:42

paint Shirley Joe as a ruthless

41:44

con artist, ready and willing to do

41:46

anything necessary for

41:49

her next score. A

41:51

major focus of the state's case was that

41:54

Shirley had killed Wilma for money, focusing on

41:57

the forged check that was found, and that...

42:00

had been made out to Shirley Joe on the amount of $4,050. It's

42:05

my opinion that the

42:07

homicide occurred after

42:09

her source of funds had

42:12

dried up. Prosecutors

42:15

theorize that Shirley Joe befriended

42:18

Wilma solely to take advantage

42:20

of her. Wilma Plaster would have

42:22

been somebody that she, another woman of

42:24

her age that was a widow that

42:26

was looking for a friend. Prosecutors

42:31

believe that Shirley Joe earned Wilma's

42:33

trust. But on the night of

42:35

October 3, 1989, Wilma

42:38

likely learned the truth about her

42:41

new friend. They think

42:43

Wilma discovered that money was missing

42:45

from her account. And

42:47

they were in the car when she confronted her.

42:51

The murder was committed in the front seat

42:53

of the car. Either she looked away or

42:55

was getting out of the car because the

42:58

gunshot wound was from the left back

43:00

of her head. Shirley

43:02

had taken every

43:04

dime she had. She would have

43:06

no money to live on. And

43:11

mom had to be got in the river. Prosecutors

43:14

assert Shirley Joe then tried to cover her tracks.

43:19

The blood all over

43:21

the place suggested that the dismemberment occurred in

43:23

the garage. Then

43:26

they think she drives back up to

43:28

Springfield, past Springfield, up into Greene County

43:30

and dumps the

43:32

body off the side of the road. Then at some point, she drives

43:34

down to Arkansas and dumps the body off

43:37

the road. And

43:39

then at some point, she drives down to Arkansas

43:42

and dumps the bloody floor mats, the gun, the checks, had

43:45

her print up. The defense, however,

43:47

offers up a theory

43:50

of their own. She

43:52

clearly had her attorney go after

43:55

her own son and try to blame him

43:57

for killing the cops. I

44:01

don't think Buddy even knew

44:03

what was going on until

44:06

all of a sudden he realizes that they're trying

44:08

to pin this on him. One

44:11

of the prosecutors referred to the defense strategy

44:13

of attempting to blame Buddy as Shirley

44:16

Joe offering up her own son as a

44:18

sacrificial lamb.

44:23

In the end, the jury sides

44:25

with the prosecution. The

44:27

jury found Shirley Joe Phillips guilty of murder in

44:29

the first degree for the killing of Wilma Plaster.

44:33

There was just this incredible

44:35

weight lifted

44:38

off my shoulders. You

44:40

know, it may have not been for

44:42

my grandmother's murder, but a justification and

44:45

just glad to see that this

44:47

endless cycle of kleptomania,

44:50

violence, murder was

44:53

going to come to an end. No other family

44:55

was going to have to suffer what Wilma's

44:58

family did. Shirley

45:00

Joe is sentenced to death, but

45:03

six years later an appeal reduces

45:05

her sentence. We

45:07

were contacted by a new prosecutor

45:09

in Missouri who said that some

45:13

evidence had surfaced that would

45:15

allow them to appeal this

45:17

case. The argument that

45:19

Shirley Joe's lawyers made was that there was

45:21

a sculptory evidence that should have been turned

45:24

over by the state to the defense. It

45:26

was not presented at Shirley Joe Phillips' trial.

45:29

Her sentence was committed to life in prison without

45:31

chance for parole. The fact that

45:33

she couldn't kill somebody else, well, that was

45:35

the basic minimum that we felt

45:39

good about. Though

45:43

time has eased the pain,

45:45

the impact of Shirley Joe's

45:47

horrific actions still haunts those

45:49

affected by the case. It's

45:53

the story of a sweet woman that had no

45:55

idea who she was taking in, and

45:57

she was deceived. She

46:00

was lied to and ultimately she was

46:02

killed by. She

46:05

lived a long and loving

46:07

life prior to the last

46:09

evening. And the last

46:11

evening will not define her. She

46:13

loved her kids. She was incredibly proud of

46:16

us. She would have

46:18

had reveled in all of this. To

46:21

see her children succeed. To see

46:23

her grandchildren grow. But

46:25

she missed out on so much. So

46:28

much. Shirley

46:33

Jo Phillips is currently serving her life sentence

46:35

in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Due to

46:37

a lack of evidence, no one has been

46:39

charged in connection to the murder of Shirley

46:41

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