1982 Lake Waco Murders

This case is technically "solved"; however, many questions remain (not the least of which is: was an innocent men executed?). I was living in Waco for several years; left a couple of months before this happened. I knew Vic Feazell casually- he was having trysts w/ my room mate. My impression of him was/is *smarmy*- not just because he was married & screwing around, but because he literally came across that way- just exuded ego, anything for attention, nasty personality in general. Also, the media makes this case sound like an aberration in Waco, and, honestly, it wasn't. I sobered up in 1980; in early 1981 an acquaintance from the program & her boyfriend went to Koehne Park to try to score some weed; the boyfriend was shot and killed. It wasn't at all unusual for people to be shot, stabbed, etc. in Waco- I worked in medicine, and not a weekend went by without shootings & stabbings coming into the E.R. Anyway, will comment more later; hope to hear others' opinions!
<snip>
The 1982 Lake Waco Murders refers to the deaths of three teenagers (two females, one male) near Lake Waco in Waco, Texas, in July 1982. The police investigation and criminal trials that followed the murders lasted for more than a decade and resulted in the execution of one man, David Wayne Spence, as well as life prison sentences for two other men allegedly involved in the crime, Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. A fourth suspect, Muneer Mohammad Deeb, was eventually let out after spending several years in prison.
<snip>
On July 13, 1982, two fishermen discovered the bodies of Jill Montgomery, 17, Raylene Rice, 17, and Kenneth Franks, 18, in Speegleville Park, near Lake Waco. Franks' body was found propped against a tree, with sunglasses over his eyes. All three victims had been repeatedly stabbed, and both of the women's throats had been slashed. There was also evidence that the women had been sexually assaulted.[1] <snip>
The investigation was initially headed by Lieutenant Marvin Horton of the Waco police department, with assistance from Detective Ramon Salinas and Patrolman Mike Nicoletti. Truman Simons, who was with the Waco police department at the time and had been one of the first respondents on the scene of the crime, also assisted the investigation in an informal capacity.

Initially, the investigation revealed a number of different possible suspects, including James Russell Bishop [2] and Terry Harper, local residents who had been tied to the area at the time of the crime. However, both men were found to have credible alibis (Harper's was later proven false when Spence's attorneys investigated it), and in September of that year, the investigation began to stall and was marked as "suspended." Simons, who had taken a significant personal interest in the case, requested that he be given permission to continue investigating the case, which he was subsequently granted.

<snip>The case languished for nearly a year, until the work of Simons and others had produced enough evidence to again arrest Deeb and three alleged accomplices in the plot.[4] Deeb had had a life insurance policy for one employee at his convenience store who bore a striking resemblance to Jill Montgomery. Simons hypothesized that Deeb had hired David Wayne Spence to murder her, and that Spence and two friends, Anthony and Gilbert Melendez, had seen the victims and mistaken Montgomery for the target. They speculated that the other two victims had been murdered because they were witnesses.[5]
<snip>
Deeb, Spence, and the Melendez brothers were all indicted late in 1983. District Attorney Vic Feazell, whose office had been instrumental in continuing to pursue new evidence in the case, would manage the prosecution against the accused.[6] Spence and both Melendez brothers were, at the time, already serving prison sentences for various crimes.[7]

The evidence against the men largely consisted of testimony provided by other inmates, who claimed that the defendants had admitted to their involvement in the killings in private discussions, as well as confessions made by Anthony and Gilbert Melendez. Also considered was the confession Deeb had made to the two young women about his involvement in the killings, as well as the life insurance policy he had taken out for his employee. Bite marks on the victims were also presented as evidence of Spence’s involvement.

The trials began in May, with testimony from dental specialists supplementing the evidence that had been provided by the prison witnesses. In June, Anthony Melendez pleaded guilty to the crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[8] Spence’s case was badly damaged by Melendez’ confession, which played a key role in his eventual conviction in July 1984. Unlike Melendez, Spence was sentenced to death for his involvement in the killings.[8]

<snip>
In 1986, true-crime writer Carlton Stowers published his account of the murders and police investigation surrounding the Lake Waco murders, Careless Whispers. The book focused heavily on Truman Simons’ involvement in producing the evidence which led to the convictions.
<snip>
Controversy
Following the convictions of Spence and Deeb, some began to question the substance of the evidence on which the convictions had been based and the methods through which it had been obtained. Forensic odontologist Homer Campbell was proven to have made false assessments at around the same time, and when a blind panel examined the alleged bite marks and a mold of Spence's teeth, three said that the marks were not even bite marks, and the other two matched them to a Kansas housewife.[citation needed] Three of the seven people who said Spence confessed later stated that Simons had offered them privileges in order to secure their testimony and had fed them info on what to say.[citation needed] Spence's lawyers also discovered an alternate suspect in Terry Harper, a local thug with a history of knife-related offenses. Six witnesses testified to seeing Harper and his friends in the park on the night of the murder, and others claimed that he had boasted of committing the murders (some even said that he did this even before the crime was made public).[citation needed] Also, one of the victims, Kenneth Franks, was later found to have been an associate of Harper's in the drug trade.[citation needed] When Harper was interviewed by Spence's lawyers, he claimed that he was at home watching Dynasty; records showed that Dynasty did not air that night.[citation needed] Brian Pardo, a wealthy Texas businessman, met Spence a few months prior to his execution and, on becoming convinced of his innocence, launched a campaign to delay his death sentence so that a new trial could be commenced. His efforts were unsuccessful, but they brought attention to the case following Spence’s execution.

Bob Herbert wrote a series of articles for The New York Times in 1997, with headlines such as “The Wrong Man” and “The Impossible Crime,” in which he claimed that the case had been “cobbled […] together from the fabricated and often preposterous testimony of inmates who were granted all manner of favors in return.” [12]

1982 Lake Waco murders - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BKL67]

Now moving on to the sometimes acrimonious conversations I had with Gayle Kelly, I went back over those exchanges so I can be accurate as possible and trying to explain it so people that read can make since of it. That has been part of the problem with this case it has so many tentacles it's difficult to see how they fit. Unlike when I talked to Rhonda where the focus was on a narrow scope a couple issues, by the time of the murders she had been placed in foster care and was no longer in the proverbial eye of the hurricane that existed between the Methodist Home and the Rainbow Drive-In that was across the street, with Gayle Kelly the issues went all over the place. And we have to keep in mind there are a many people connected to this case that are still to this day dealing and struggling with all the events that took place so long ago, that would include Gayle Kelly. I guess we shouldn't judge too harshly, I am aware sometimes no matter hard I try I am guilty of this. So going back over some of what Gayle told me, I thought maybe it would be best to just let people see what she said in her own words and then I could go back and fill in the blanks and explain. I want to be crystal clear on this, I have done little to no editing to this, what you get is how she wrote it, what I did where possible was instead of posting some of her longer responses that covered many issues I have just cut down to simple responses, that way things will be less confusing. To keep things in the proper context how this started I contacted Gayle Kelly and inquired if I could ask her some questions, she agreed and I originally sent her a list of 10 questions and she replied for most part. I am not posting those, not to hide anything it is just they weren't very telling. I had asked her if she recalled the party Rhonda had told me about where she met David Spence, Gayle stated they partied at the lake and saw David and the Melendez brothers plenty of times. I asked her about any interaction between Jill Montgomery and as Rhonda had done she couldn't recall if Jill and David ever had any contact prior to the murders. Asked her if she knew where Deeb got the drugs he supplied to the girls from the home, I really din't her to give me as answer to that one but I had to try and she didn't. I asked her if she knew Clifford Oliver and Robert Coleman, she claimed she didn't. I asked her when she was stating at Patti Deis' apartment and David Spence and Christine Juhl were also staying at the Northwood apartments, in the apartment she had moved out of, did she have any contact with them, she really didn't say if she did or didn't only saying she had plenty of encounters with David, of coarse much more on this. Then I asked a couple questions regarding where Jill and Rhonda stayed when they ran away and about the "mysterious Robert" where her answers didn't match what's in the files and our exchanges turned more heated. On where Jill and Rhonda stayed, Gayle stated it wasn't Jill and Rhonda that stayed at Bobby Brem's, it was her one of the times she ran away. That could be true that Gayle also stayed at Bobby's when she ran away but Rhonda Evans and Bobby Brem have both confirmed Jill and Rhonda stay at his house when they ran away. Now the "Mysterious Robert" thing is a little more troubling, you start to see the duplicity in Gayle Kelly that pervades the police reports. The "Mysterious Robert" was a lead the Waxahachie police came across and passed along to the Waco PD. Apparently there was this Robert, a male subject described as of Mexican descent, that Jill Montgomery apparently had dealings with, they couldn't obtain a last name but they found a photo of Jill with an unnamed man of Mexican descent. On July 23rd Officer Nicoletti took this photo to the Methodist Home and discovered the name of the man in the photo was Richard not Robert and he was from the Home. Nicoletti questioned some of the staff and Jill's friends if they knew any Robert's that Jill would have been involved with, this included Gayle Kelly she had just returned to the Home after the second break-in of Patti Deis' apartment. The name of a Robert DeLaRosa came up, at the moment I can't remember if Nicoletti had already been given this name or if Gayle provided it, I have to go back to the reports, but Gayle stated Jill will seeing this DeLaRosa on the sly and Jill had told her he (Robert DeLaRosa) always had good drugs, Gayle claimed she didn't know anything else about the man, had never met him didn't know what he looked like and couldn't provide any additional information. Fast forward 30 plus years later and I ask Gayle about this Robert DeLaRosa and her story changes dramatically. Now she tells me DeLaRosa was the uncle of Gayle's boyfriend at the time and future husband Henry Reyes and she wasn't aware Jill and Robert DeLaRosa had any contact. She tried to deny she ever said anything to the police about Jill and DeLaRosa, I showed her the police report, you can guess how well that went over. Here's the thing I understand Gayle had some problems and didn't enjoy the company of law enforcement, she openly admits it, finally getting a chance to use her own words she told me, " I was angry, hurt and highly hostile to any law enforcement" but too often in the reports mainly when the subject of the drug activity or Muneer Deeb she is either not being truthful or you get the sense she is hiding something, she knows a lot more than she is willing to say and the passage of time hasn't helped. As an example I will use her own words again when she told me this, unedited, " Waco's PD,and the sheriffs office,I spent a lot of time convincing them it was not drug related,even after Patti place got broke in to they were still saying it was drug related.sure we got high we bought weed and booze but they were trying to make men a drug kinpin(waco PD)so I just shot down on them,refusing to answer there question". The "men" in that sentence should be Ken she did this a couple times when I talked to her. The problem, it's not true, when Gayle Kelly was first interviewed by the Waco PD and Mike Nicoletti she states Ken had told her is was about to make a big score on a deal and Ken won't give her the name of the person he was dealing with for her own safety, it was some one the kids were leery of and Gayle knew the person but wouldn't know Ken would be dealing with him. And for those that might want to throw Tab Harper's name in as a possibility it wasn't Harper, Gayle was asked about him and she knew Ken and Harper had dealings along the way and things were good between the two, Harper wasn't the unknown dealer that Ken and Gayle had to fear for their safety from. Again I shared with Gayle what was in the police report and again her response in her own words, " See this exactly why I never did interviews not only did vic frazzelll liealot stuff never was made public including my previous encounters with David,I never did pills,but Jill did,we all smoked pot,so I made it my business to hustle Deeb.but the joke really was on me". What to make of that statement, maybe cryptic, I guess it depends on your leanings. Later after more probing on my part Gayle would reiterate ," Our childish endeavors in pot dealings had nothing to do with this", I don't know color me skeptical. There is one other response Gayle Kelly sent me that I would like to share I believe it to be very telling, " .Vicfrizzell was never in it for the truth,but for the headlines,telling me we could use the truth if it hurt his case I got so mad that left waco,til this day I have never returned except for trial,it took 6 months for the Texas rangers to find me and he totally freaked when I told him to **** off,but as isaid vic was in it for viche did not ask me to lie,just forget crucial things that maybe would a see them free,so yes I am very aware of how much was riding on my story that vichad worked out this theory and I was told to toe the party line, I've felt guilty a lot years over my friends death, even to try the point of suicide. A lot of stays at some really nice clinics,but I need liedhe just omitted certain things that he did want out there I have felt the weight of this for many years.But I do believe they done it,but the way it was done was not correct". That last line says it all, Gayle knows David, Deeb and the Melendez brothers did it and the truth about the how and why didn't come out in court, how could she make this claim well maybe because she knows exactly why the murders were committed and it wasn't just some fateful twisted chance encounter. So much more on this later.

 

[Guess Who]

@BKL67 please don't think nobody is interested in this, just because of not replying. I, for one, am enjoying reading along, but just have nothing to ad, so please don't quit posting, thinking you are taking over the thread.

 

[GarAndMo39]

@BKL67 please don't think nobody is interested in this, just because of not replying. I, for one, am enjoying reading along, but just have nothing to ad, so please don't quit posting, thinking you are taking over the thread.

Thanks for this @Guess Who ! @BKL67 I'm still catching up on your blog; plus dealing with red tape in re: Covid 19 (ordering groceries, trying to keep my cats from running away during deliveries, etc.)- I promise I'll reply ASAP! Your blog is very interesting; lots of info and many opinions there- good for you! But it takes time to read it all!

 

[GarAndMo39]

Hi again @BKL67 ~
This won't be at all cohesive, but just a couple of thoughts/observations from what I've read in your blog so far (and my own perspective from the folks I knew in Waco):
1) Please keep in mind that I was pretty newly sober when I lived in Waco in the early 80s- my sobriety date is 10/14/1980. So regarding the friend I spoke to in re: Spence- he was also a recovering drunk/dope fiend. All of us who were deeply involved in the drug scene hung out with many nasty people; that, unfortunately, goes hand in hand with dope, as I know you realize. I may have even encountered Spence at a party or a dealer's house without ever knowing who he was.
2) In re: my disdain (for lack of a better word) for B.F. : I have no problems with someone expressing his/her opinions. But when such opinions are intertwined with vitriolic resentment of an ex. or someone whom the individual has a personal grudge against (that has no relation to the subject at hand), it's just tedious to read, and, IMO, can seriously negate any opinion that person expresses regarding the case. I don't blame her for being pissed off, but she seems unable to separate her personal issues from the issues arising from the case and its players.
3) I agree with your opinion that the "mixed identity" motive is basically b.s.- I've seen better photos of Jill and Gayle than those in the book (and I didn't think they looked much alike in the book, FWIW), and the only resemblance I see is dark hair in a similar style.
More soon!

 

[BKL67]

@GarAndMo39, thank you for your thoughts and there is a lot there to dig into. First the Waco drug scene at the time is one of those areas that gets overlooked and we hear so little about maybe you could give us some insight but then maybe you feel it's better to just let the past remain in the past. Just my thoughts seeing your sober date was in October 1980, David Spence was in prison at the time for the 7-11 hatchet robbery in Fort Worth he committed in 1979, where he was living at the time. He spent about a year and a half in prison for that offense 15-18 months, I've seen different dates and he was released either June or July 1981, was first paroled to Fort Worth then transferred to Waco where he arrived sometime either in August or September. I don't know how long he lived in Fort Worth, the only idea we get on that is from Dorothy Miles, the lady David considered to be his second mother that testified for the prosecution, in her testimony she states she hadn't seen David in years from the time he moved away, I can't remember if she gives the number of years or the year she thinks he moved away but the mid 70's pop out to me, I think David was in his late teens when he moved. He got married young, I think 17, so I don't know if that had anything to do with him moving, didn't hear much about the ex-wife Judy until he was on death row and she became one of biggest supporters and besides David's attorneys was the person that visited him the most frequent. I have no idea how much the drug scene or culture in Waco changed from the time David left as a teen in the mid 70's until he returned in 81 and I take it once you were sober you tried to avoid some of those people and that scene all together but maybe you did know some of those people. In the reports and trial testimony we hear many accounts of David's drug use but he didn't have money and couldn't keep a job, the same could be said of Kenneth Franks, I realize some of this was just rumor but as with most rumors there's usually some truth to it, so where did these guys get their drugs? The only drug dealers we hear about is the strange Reverend Robert Frueh, he lived on the same street at the Franks and he draws a lot of attention and interest from people. A number of the local kids reported that the Melendez brothers sold marijuana at the high schools but I'm not sure if selling dime bags to kids at high school football games constitutes being drug dealers. The only other person we hear about is Tommy Walker, Anthony Melendez stated that's where he and David went to try and score prior to the murders but Walker wasn't home. Walker testified during the trials but I have never been able to see that testimony, I don't know what he could testify to if he wasn't home, I don't know if they stopped by because I wasn't home? That really tells us a lot. So I would really like to get my hands on his testimony. Even Muneer Deeb's drug connection is a mystery, well at least he had money but didn't have a big social circle, he spent most him time working and stalking Kebanna Reed. The way it sounds Waco's drug dealers had a very lenient credit policy usually unseen in other parts of the country but then again maybe they weren't so lenient and that's why Kenneth Franks, Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice were laid out in a park. Your insights should be intriguing.

Again you are spot on about Bernadette Feazell bringing her personal disappointments of her private life into the case, in a nutshell it was clearly a conflict of interest but everybody just ignored it. When Brian Pardo first got involved in the case in 1996 the media went wild over the idea Bernadette Feazell had joined the cause, she was hailed as this strong ally, Pardo was seen as the chivalrous champion fighting for the under dog and Bernadette would provide the inside scoop on the questionable practices of the Mclennan County D.A.'s office under the leadership of her ex Vic Feazell, it was absolutely crazy. After Brian Pardo changed his stance and no longer was convinced of Spence's innocence and Vic files a civil suit against him and won the biggest payout awarded in a civil suit in the state of Texas and then Pardo had other legal and financial problems, he disappeared from the scene and most of those articles have as well. I have to say although I did not agree with Brian Pardo I would have to say at least on how he tried to handle this case he was honest, after he left Bernadette Feazell and Fred Dannen took over the cause and I can't say the same about them. I have to point out Vic Feazell's recent podcast, the one where he and Bernadette discuss his arrest, it is appalling, this revisionist history have they totally lost their minds, records still exist, Bernadette was the one that went to the FBI and reported that Vic had let off businessman Al Smith on and drinking and Driving charge and in return made Mr. Smith make donations to causes Vic was raising money for, I have to add they were not donations to or for Vic Feazell personally. Mr Smith had been drinking and driving lost control of his vehicle ran into some one's yard and did some damage, Mr. Smith paid the home owners for the damages, reportedly much more than was adequate to cover the cost of said damages, Vic choose not to prosecute Mr. Smith, which was his prerogative as D.A. and in return expect Mr. Smith to attain a fund raising dinner and make a donation which helped out a good cause which Mr. Smith did, so all in all it was a win for all parties involved only the likes of some one like Bernadette Feazell would try to turn it into something far more nefarious. Now some of you might wonder what this has to do with the Lake Waco Murders, well the FBI agent Bernadette reported this to was none other than the agent that is widely considered the most disgraced agent in the history of the FBI, although in the current political climate he might be replaced by others very soon. I will have to get back to you on the first name but this is none other the the infamous Agent Gunn, his exploits and wonderful deeds can easily be found on the internet. There is a history between Agent Gunn and Vic Feazell, Gunn was like a liaison agent for the FBI during the James Russell Bishop part of the Lake Waco Murders acting as a go between for the San Diego Police and the Waco Police, which is not uncommon when multiple jurisdictions are involved. For some reason Vic and Gun didn't get along. I don't know if they had any dealings prior to this, the best source on this are the trial transcripts of Vic Feazell's trial. I read the transcripts once, my interest being what was said about the Lake Waco Murders but during this trial Vic does bring up that he felt Gunn was personally going after him for some reason and all Gunn needed was the tales spun by his ex Bernadette. The details on the Lake Waco Murders during this trial deal with how Vic handled the jailbirds, the many that made statements and of coarse the ones that testified. For anyone interested in the Lake Waco Murders case you get the same information in one of David Spence's appeals, actually David was granted an additional hearing because of the charges brought against Vic and questions regarding his conduct while he was in office. Both courts made the same decision that Vic Feazell had not acted unethically nor illegal in his dealings with the aforementioned jailbirds but in the Appellate court's decision hearing David Spence's appeals as they always do they explain in detail their findings. Just as they have done on all the issues, and on most of them more than once, that Bernadette Feazell and Fred Dannen keep hounding on i.e.; the bite mark evidence, Gilbert's truck that Truman Simons bought after the conclusion of the trials, Tab Harper, The blood spatter expert, the recantations of some of the jailbirds and the Melendez brothers. Again anyone that would like to read about this most of the appeals can be easily found on the internet. And one final act Bernadette Feazell tried to pull only a few years ago, it was after Anthony Melendez had passed away, she contacted Jill Montgomery's aunt and told her if she wanted the truth she needed to talk to this FBI agent, I'm not sure if Bernadette gave the aunt the name of the agent but when she asked me about it although I believe she should talk to as many people as she could, I did caution her in putting faith in anything this agent had to say telling her the only agent I was aware Bernadette had any contact with in reference to this case was disgraced agent Gunn. So GarAndMo39 your disdain for lack of a better word doesn't even scratch the surface of how I would describe how I feel about Bernadette Feazell.

 

[BKL67]

That post was too long I had to break it in two, so this is part two.


And a few thoughts regarding the extremely questionable belief that Jill and Gayle looked alike. It was not just in their faces where I believe anyone would be scratching their head if they were told they looked so much alike they could pass as twins but what might be difficult to see in the photos is as Jill's family has pointed out on numerous occasions the two girls' body types were very different. Jill Montgomery was more full figured and shorter by many inches, she was around 5'2 or 5'3. Jill was very conscious about her weight, hence why she was taking the pills, speed, black beauties and she had actually lost a noticeable amount of weight shortly before the murders. On the other hand Jill was more like a bean pole, tall and very skinny, I guess like an Olive Oil, she was like 5'7 or 5'8. I would even question if their shade of hair was even all that similar, I know in that one picture it looks like Gayle's hair is very dark, Jill's was like dark black but in most pictures of Gayle her hair is much lighter as it is still today. I know it doesn't matter or mean anything but in some ways Gayle Kelly and Christine Juhl look more alike, they have similar hair color, Christine is also 5'7 or 5'8 and at the time thin, probably not as thin as Gayle but living with David Wayne Spence could be cause of the most unhealthy diet known to man. And even in their eyes, I guess what people would describe as big eyes, Gayle's are a little more pronounced than Christine's but they have that similar starry gaze maybe a sadness, probably brought on by this whole ordeal. GarAndMo39 I do have one question for you, forgive me but I have acquired an appreciation on how people chose their words since I got into this case, seeing how an expression like witness can simply be changed to eye witness and it changes the whole perception. I noticed you wrote "mixed identity" instead of the more commonly referred to mistaken identity and that you put it in
parenthesis emphasizes some consideration in choosing those words. Did you mean because with the murder of Kenneth Franks there wasn't a case of mistaken identity but could have been with the girls which then would be mixed identities or was there something else or another reason you chose that description/ Sorry for the vexing question but that's how my mind works. Well I really enjoyed your thoughts and hope to hear more from you soon.

 

[BKL67]

I need to make some corrections, I want to be as accurate as possible there already is enough confusion in this case I don't want to add to it. A couple days ago I posted Mike Nicoletti talked to Gayle Kelly on July 20th, July 23rd and July 27th, at that time I knew I wasn't 100% sure on that last date, today I took the time to go over those reports again and I found I had mixed up or messed up the details on a couple of those reports. I had stated on July 23rd Nicoletti went to the Methodist Home to ask about the "Mysterious Robert" and asked Gayle about this at that time, that wasn't the case Gayle was asked about this after she had left the Home and was back at Patti Deis' apartment which was on July 28th and it wasn't Nicoletti that asked her about this it was Detective Ramon Salinas and Sergeant Holly Holstein. On July 23rd actually what Nicoletti went to the Home to talk to Gayle about was the second break-in of Patti Deis' apartment that had occurred the night before. The girls didn't like how they were treated by the Waco police when they went to the station to report the first break-in on July 20th, the police believing the girls were hiding something and weren't telling them everything they knew, so when the second break-in occurred Gayle and Patti didn't want to return to the station, Patti called Salinas to report the break-in, he asked her to come to the station so they could talk, Patti declined. Salinas asked her didn't she want to report the break-in Patti replied that's what she was doing with that phone call. Nicoletti finds that Gayle Kelly has returned to the Home after this second break-in, I guess he thought since Gayle had returned to the Home she had finally realized somebody was after at least one of the girls and maybe she would be more cooperative this time. A couple of her friends had already been killed and now some one was breaking into the apartment where she was staying, laying out knives and leaving ominous letters stating something to the effect we will get you next time. Even if the girls still didn't believe the break-ins were connected to the murders as the police were starting to believe it was obvious that some one was planning to cause harm to one of them but both girls still claimed they didn't know anybody that would be doing this or that they were having problems with. And on that July 23rd Gayle does tell Nicoletti something that he believes might put him on the right track. Gayle tells him while she was running around town on July 21st she was followed by three black men in a blue car, Gayle claims she called Patti to tell her about this and Patti replied she had been followed by the same subjects in the blue car. Nicoletti remembers a black man that was in a blue Duster in Koehne Park the night of the murders had been interviewed and his story was a little strange. This man was Ronald Robinson and what he told police when he was interviewed was he arrived at the park around 1:30 a.m., he and his friend John Kent, apparently the owner of the blue Duster had been drinking at the Oaky Doky while there they met a girl and at closing time Robinson and Kent offered to give this girl a ride home but the girl was highly intoxicated and passed out. So they drive to the park to wait for the girl to regain consciousness, while there Robinson claims he sees the orange Pinto, Raylene Rice's car, pull in and then another car pulls in behind the Pinto and a male driver gets out of the Pinto and gets in the other car and it pulls off, minutes later Robert Frueh pulls in beside the Pinto. A tantalizing little tale to say the least but Waco police have a few problems with it, they never are able to locate John Kent and Robinson can't even provide the name of the girl he was supposedly planning to give a ride home to nor does he have an address for the girl, according to Robinson when the girl finally did come to she wasn't too happy to find herself in the situation she had put herself in and he and Kent had just dropped her off somewhere. But now with the information Gayle had just given him Nicoletti decides maybe Ronald Robinson needs to be interviewed again, which Nicoletti proceeds to do, this time many of Robinson's recollections change. All very intriguing but was the information that Gayle Kelly provided Nicoletti true, I guess we will never know but when we see what she says at a later date there is reason to have serious doubts. And if Gayle Kelly was lying the question becomes why. Maybe she was just telling the police something to get them off her back and leave her alone. Or was she trying to deflect attention away from something else. something Gayle Kelly knew about all too well?

 

[BKL67]

Now if the information Gayle Kelly gave Mike Nicoletti on July 23rd leaves us with questions her interview with Salinas and Holstein on July 28th is even more troubling, that would be when she wasn't truthful about knowing Robert DeLaRosa but it's what she didn't say about something else that sends up the red flags. As I showed earlier Gayle told me she had many encounters with David Spence and I guess she told Vic Feazell about them because there is definitely no mention of any in the police reports of the officers that worked the case originally from July 14th until September 3rd. There is one encounter anyone familiar with the case has probably heard about. That would be the time David Spence asked Gayle wouldn't it be nice to live to see 18. According to the accounts this happened on Gayle's 17th birthday which was July 27th, one day prior to her interview with Salinas and Holstein yet Gayle fails to mention anything about this at that time. Again why? The police are trying to find the person breaking into your apartment and days later some one comes up to you and makes what you take as a threatening statement but you don't tell the police about this when you talk to them the next day? If this makes sense someone will have to explain it to me. One other thing I need to go back to before I get to when Gayle finally does start talking, again earlier I brought up the issue of things that sometimes the police failed to write in their reports, one rather regretful omission that would raise questions later was Nicoletti's failure to mention he showed Gayle the crime scene photos and gave her details about the wounds inflicted, probably something he shouldn't have done and maybe why he didn't include this in his report. So by the end of July the police realize they are getting nowhere with Gayle Kelly and Patti Deis, they move on and in little more than a month they suspend the investigation. Truman Simons keeping up with the case, reading the reports realizes there are leads the original detectives/officers failed to follow up on and on September 9th asks if he can work the case, he is granted his wish with one condition he can't work it alone, Detective Dennis Baier is assigned to work with Simons, they start the next day September 10th and only a few days later September 13th, exactly two months after the murders, they make their first arrest; Muneer Deeb. What was it that Simons and Baier were able to obtain that the original investigators were not? Well for one the cooperation of Gayle Kelly. And once again I have to ask why?

 

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By the time Simons and Baier first talked to Gayle Kelly on September 11th, Muneer Deeb had already become a prime suspect in their two day old investigation, the information they had received from a number of people by that time had rightfully fueled their suspicions, the original investigators had been told on July 19th Muneer Deeb had killed Kenneth Franks because of Gayle Kelly but had failed to follow up that lead and now when Simons and Baier decided on September 11th to re-interview the girl that had provided that tip she added David Wayne Spence to the mix and running a check on him they find he had just been arrested on September 9th for aggravated sexual assault on an 18 year old boy where he had cut the victim with a knife. And now, finally, someone decided to ask Gayle Kelly about Muneer Deeb. And when asked Gayle recalled a night a couple weeks after the murders when, she claimed, Deeb had given her explicit details about the murder of Kenneth Franks, she claimed Deeb had told her Ken was made to suffer, he was stabbed around the heart not to kill him but just to make him suffer, Gayle would further claim Deeb told her the exact number of times Ken had been stabbed like this. Why hadn't Gayle ever said anything about this to any other law enforcement officer over the previous two months? Surely they would have liked to have had this information. Simons and Baier decide to go tell the investigators that had originally worked the case this alarming information they had just received only to be told by Nicoletti that he had given the details of the murders to Gayle Kelly. Simons and Baier go back to Gayle and inform her what they had just been told by Nicoletti, Gayle agrees Nicoletti had told her the details when he first interviewed her on July 20th but she still claimed Deeb had also told her the details shortly after that. Simons and Baier would interview Gayle Kelly multiple times over the next two days, September 11th and 12th, during these interviews Gayle never mentions the three black men in the blue car she had told Nicoletti about on July 23rd, now she states members of David Spence's bike gang were following her around, hanging around outside the apartment and harassing her. And it was also during these interviews she first mentions her encounter with David Spence on July 27th although at that time she can't recall the date when it happened and she claims the remark about living to see 18 was made towards Patti Deis and the she doesn't say the remark was made by Spence but again members of his bike gain. When Gayle testified almost two years later, she still couldn't recall when this encounter took place and still wasn't sure if the comment was directed towards her or Patti but now David Spence was the party that made the threatening statement. Gayle's recollections now are that it occurred on her 17th birthday and the threatening statement was directed towards her by David Spence. Now I don't doubt this encounter occurred there are enough eye witnesses to support it, well at least there was an encounter between Gayle and David and he made some remarks to her that she didn't seemed not to be happy about, these witnesses included Gilbert Melendez and Cindy Click/Quick a.k.a. Sunshine. So one would have to ask why Gayle couldn't name Spence as the culprit of this exchange in September 1982? Also during these interviews Gayle Kelly expressed she felt some uneasiness towards Muneer Deeb, so Simons and Baier were somewhat taken aback when Gayle informed them that she and Patti were planning to go to the movies with Deeb that evening. Wrapping up that interview Simons and Baier inform Gayle Muneer Deeb is a suspect for the murders and ask of her not to say anything to him about their talks with her, Gayle agrees. Later that same night Gayle calls Truman screaming, "He did it, he did it". Truman questions her and Gayle explains Muneer Deeb had confessed to her and Patti that he had killed the kids and as they say the rest is history. The problem is we get most of that history from the slanted "Careless Whispers", where the author used his artistic license to create a compelling narrative. There have been many critics questioning some of the facts stated in that book but since no one has really challenged how the events unfolded on September 13, 1982 and although the reports of Simons and Baier are mum on many of the details other than they arrested Deeb that evening, took him into custody where they interrogated him all night, getting very little information, I will stick to the story that has been told for the last 30 plus years. On the morning of September 13th, Simons and Baier have a meeting with the Waco PD brass, members of the police departments legal team and a representative from the D.A.'s office, this is in their reports and they name the participants, they lay out the information they have obtained on Muneer Deeb, Simons details the call he had received from Gayle Kelly and her claim that Deeb had admitted to the murders, they explain how Gayle had told them Deeb had given her details of the murders prior to this and they had talked to other people that stated Deeb had made comments about the murders to them, including former police officer Willie Tompkins, Patty Pick and both of the Reed sisters. Overall it was a very compelling presentation but there were questions, anyone can make comments about a murder doesn't mean they had anything to do with the murder but the most questionable thing was Gayle Kelly's story of what had happened the night before, it just didn't hold water. I would have to agree with them on this one. Simply put Gayle told Simons that Deeb had taken her and Patti to go see a slasher film which neither girl was in the mood for, the thoughts of their friends recently being killed still fresh in their minds but they go and watch anyway, afterwards they complain about the blood and guts in the movie to Deeb and ask him how could he have taken them to a movie like that to which Deeb replies I killed the kids. That just doesn't make sense. Deeb was always trying to impress the girls, Gayle and Patti had to know an 80's slasher film would entail violence, blood and guts, they couldn't have been that naive and if they didn't want to watch that kind of movie couldn't they have just asked Deeb to pick another movie which he would have mostly likely done but they watch the slasher flick then complain to Deeb about it and his response is to blurt out you want to cry about blood and guts well I killed your friends. Really? The girls and Deeb probably did talk about the murders and maybe he admitted to killing the kids but it doesn't seem likely it went down like Gayle had told Simons. So it was decided law enforcement needed to hear Deeb talking to Gayle about the murders, they want to send her into the store wearing a wire, Gayle is very hesitant about this but she is told Deeb can't be arrested unless they get more information on him and they need to hear him talking about the murders. Gayle is assured she won't be in any danger there will be undercovers in the store. Finally Gayle agrees to cooperate, she's wired up and sent into the store with police all over the place inside and outside the store. She walks in sees Deeb but he tells her he is too busy to talk to her right then but he really wants to talk to her, so he asks Gayle if she can return after the store closes, she replies she will but she really has no intention of going back to that store especially after it closes. Gayle leaves the store and informs the police she won't go back, so what can law enforcement now. Simons and Baier go back to the attorneys, they believe Deeb is planning to bolt and if they don't act now Deeb will be in the wind back in his home country untouchable, they request an arrest warrant for Muneer Deeb, later that evening they get their warrant, they head to the store to arrest Deeb but when they arrive he is not there, they thought that was strange because Deeb usually worked the evenings at his store and they started to worry they had missed Deeb, maybe he had already taken off. A few minutes later while they were sitting in the parking lot, their spirits rebound, Muneer Deeb comes bouncing around the corner, in seconds they are on him like white on rice. Muneer Deeb had been apprehended for the Lake Waco Murders. But that would only be the beginning of this complex and twisted tale.

 

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After booking Muneer Deeb, Truman Simons and Dennis Baier began their tense and tedious interrogation. Right from the start it was evident Deeb would be a hard nut to crack, he tried to lie denying he even knew Kenneth Franks. When the officers divulged some of the information that proved otherwise, Deeb relented, when Simons and Baier shared with Deeb that their sources told them that there was bad blood between he and Kenneth Franks, Deeb tried to blow it off. it was nothing. Further detailing the information they tell Deeb one girl reported to them Deeb had told her he was going to take care of Kenneth and when the girl expressed doubts as to Deeb's ability to do so she stated he brandished a gun exclaiming he could take care of Kenneth. Other witnesses had informed them that Deeb had told them he had people that could take care of Kenneth for him. To this Deeb replied, "I was just joking", his normal response anytime he was confronted with any incriminating information, as was the case when he was told Gayle Kelly called Truman Simons hysterically pronouncing Deeb had admitted to killing the kids to her and Patti, Deeb stated he had done so but again he was just joking. For hours this cat and mouse game continued, getting nowhere. To switch gears, ease the tension, lighten the mood Simons asked Deeb where was he coming from when they picked him up. Deeb explained he knew a girl that lived behind the store, she had just moved to the area recently and he had arranged for her to move into the apartment, it was the same apartment he had helped Christine Juhl move into when she was trying to get away from David Spence. This girl's name was Dana Diamond. Simons remembered when they went to the Skagg's grocery store on September 10th, the first day of their investigation, former police officer and now security guard Willie Tompkins told Simons and Baier there was another girl other than Kebanna Reed that Deeb had brought to the store and brought groceries for, Tompkins didn't know the girl's name but stated Deeb had told him the girl was from the Houston area and had just moved to Waco. Now hearing this from Deeb, Simons put two and two together and figured Dana Diamond was the girl Tompkins had told him about days earlier. As the wee A.M. hours passed into the morning and a shift change at the station brought on the officers that had worked on the case originally and realizing they weren't getting anywhere, Simons and Baier decided maybe they should ask one of the other officers that was familiar with the case to take a run at Deeb, their choice was Sergeant Robert Fortune, both Simons and Baier respected Fortune as a highly skilled interrogator. At first Fortune declined, it has been reported Lt. Marvin forbid any of the detectives working under his command to aid or assist Truman Simons in any way, I doubt if we will ever get the truth on this but we have to keep in mind the office politics at play at the Time. When Simons requested to take over the case he went over Horton's head, taking his request directly to the Captain and in making this request Simons informed the Captain that the case had been suspended something the Captain had not been made aware of and wasn't happy about. Lt Horton was the highest ranking officer to give his consent to suspending the investigation and as so the responsibility for allowing the case to be put on the shelve squarely and rightfully belongs to him. We can't discount nor disregard the undisputed animosity that grew out of this, first between the Waco PD and Truman Simons, expanded into animosity between the Waco PD and the McLennan County Sheriff's Office and finally animosity between the Waco PD and the D.A.'s office until the critical crescendo came crashing down during the Juanita White murder trial when officers of the Waco PD, including many that had originally worked the Lake Waco Murders case, decided to testify for the defense against Truman Simons opening a Pandora's box whose ripple effects we still live with today. But back to September 14, 1982, Robert Fortune finally, hesitantly, agreed to take a shot at interrogating Muneer Deeb. After a couple hours Fortune reported to Simons and Baier Deeb wasn't coming off anything. With that it was decided Simons and Baier should just send Deeb over to the county lock up, take a break and get back to Deeb later, Both Simons and Baier had been up for well over 24 hours So Deeb was sent over to the jail and even though the last couple days had to have been totally exhausting for Simons and Baier didn't feel like they could just go home and sleep, they sensed they were hot on the trail. They decided to go check out this girl Dana Diamond to see if she could provide any information on Deeb, what see told them would irreparably change the course of the case.

 

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Going to the apartment, which for some reason they had a difficult time doing, probably because the apartment didn't have an address, Simons and Baier were unable to find it until they tracked down the owner of the property who showed them the small apartment Dana Diamond was renting. Making contact with Dana they asked her if she had seen Muneer Deeb the night before. Dana replied she had but she really didn't want to see him. Asked why this was Dana replies Deeb had just recently threatened to kill her and her boyfriend, explaining Deeb didn't want Dana seeing or dating other guys, when Deeb saw Dana with her boyfriend Deeb became very agitated and told Dana she had to break it off, if she didn't the next time he saw Dana with her boyfriend and they were in the apartment he would blow it up killing both of them because if he (Deeb) couldn't have her no one could. And just think about a decade later Amnesty International paid for Muneer Deeb to make a speech at their annual convention in Europe because they hailed him as like the poster child for human rights, what can I say I'm still just shaking my head on that one. Simons and Baier asked Dana if she knew why Deeb had stopped by that night. Dana responded Deeb told her he was planning on leaving, substantiating Simons and Baier's belief Deeb was about to flee, and he wanted to say good-bye to her but not wanting to see him Dana told Deeb she didn't have any soda and asked if he could go back to his store and get her a couple sodas, he agreed to do so and when he left Dana wasn't planning on allowing him back in but thankfully he never returned. Then Dana was asked if she ever heard Deeb ever say anything about the murders that occurred out at the lake. At first Dana said she didn't think so then she said wait a minute one day shortly after the murders occurred she was in the store and Deeb told her the two girls that had been killed had been in his store that day and they told him that another girl was suppose to be with them, then Deeb pulled out an envelope from under the counter and started waving it around saying he had an insurance policy on this other girl that was suppose to be with the girls that got killed and if she was there he would be rich now. Dana didn't know the name of this other girl. With this new information Simons and Baier walked the few feet across the street, the apartment was behind the store, entered the Rainbow Drive-In, walked behind the counter and saw not one but two envelopes. Opening envelope number one they find an insurance policy for Gayle Kelly the beneficiary Muneer Deeb listed as Gayle's common law husband. Simons and Baier were somewhat surprised, Gayle Kelly had never mentioned anything about this to them during their many interviews when her relationship with Muneer Deeb was the primary topic of their conversation, they were starting to realize Gayle Kelly didn't tell them many things, I would think they had to sense Gayle was hiding much more than she knew just as the investigators that originally worked the case believed. There was another time when Dennis Baier would find Gayle Kelly had withheld information from them, it would happen much later, after Simons had left the Waco PD but I don't know where to fit it in so I will now. When Vic Feazell ran for Mclennan County D.A. he put an emphasis on solving the Lake Waco Murders and when he won that election in November 1982 he went to the officers in the Waco Police Department and told them they needed to go back over their records and tie up loose ends. One loose end Baier thought worth checking out was during the original investigation no one had gone out to Fort Fisher, where Jill Montgomery had worked prior to her returning to Waxahachie, and see if anybody there could provide any information. Baier did so, once there he made contact with Lou Booker who was Jill's supervisor. Ms. Booker explained they had a plan in coordination with the Methodist Home where some of the kids from the Home could come to work at the Fort. She informed Baier Jill Montgomery wasn't the only girl from the Home to work at the fort, Gayle Kelly also worked at the Fort the same time as Jill, again something Gayle had never bothered to tell Baier and Simons. But then came the real kicker and Baier clearly writes in his report; without being asked Ms. Booker told him Muneer Deeb use to come out to visit Gayle and she recalled one time Gayle, Deeb and Jill got into a loud exchange, Ms. Booker wasn't sure exactly what it was about but she did remember they were going at it about Kenneth Franks and when his name was mentioned Deeb became very agitated and animated. Baier asked if she could remember when this happened, Booker couldn't remember when this happened exactly but it was when both girls worked there which would have been before Gayle had run away because she never came back to work there after that, she had run away after leaving work, the day she ran away was supposedly the last day Jill and Gayle would ever see each other. And Jill returned to Waxahachie on June 18th and she had stopped working at the Fort approximately two weeks before she returned home, so this encounter could not have occurred any later than early June. One more thing on if Jill and Gayle ever saw each other again after Gayle ran away in June. Jill had returned to Waco Saturday July 10th to get her last pay check, which she couldn't do because she had to pick it up from City Hall which wasn't open on the weekends. But Jill was went to the Methodist Home to collect some of her belongings she had left behind, including a sweat shirt and REO Speedwagon poster she had lent to a friend. Jill did not see the girl that had these two items that day, so she was planning to retrieve those items when she returned on the 13th. If she ever collected those items is still a mystery, no one can confirm she did and we still don't know the name of the girl Jill lent these items to. The police asked staff and Jill's friends from the Home if Jill had stopped by the Home that day no one saw her. There is about a three hour window where no one knows what Jill and Raylene did that day other than cash checks at the Piggly Wiggly around 5:00 p.m.. After Simons and Baier reviewed the contents of the first envelope, they opened the second, it to was an insurance policy, for Christine Juhl the beneficiary David Spence. Realizing Gayle Kelly nor Muneer Deeb seemed to be willing to divulge crucial information, it was decided Simons and Baier would try Christine Juhl, they spent the whole day tracking down Christine's family, Christine had left Waco by this time, asking them to get in touch with her and let her know they wanted to talk to her. With the discovery of the insurance policies we have the birth of the murder for hire for insurance money / mistaken identity theory.

 

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One of the most vexing questions that still remains unanswered today is what did Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice do in those missing hours that fateful July 13th, did they go to the Rainbow Drive-In as Muneer Deeb told people and if so why? Maybe it was there that they tried to cash their checks, the Piggly Wiggly where the girls did cash their checks was only three blocks away. And like most of the girls from the Methodist Home Jill probably knew Deeb, I think Deeb was probably the source of the pills Jill was taking. Or could it have been something else and why would they have told Deeb Gayle Kelly would be with them. Part of Deeb's defense during his trials was he wouldn't have tried to kill Gayle Kelly during that time period because he knew she was safely locked away at the Home unable to leave the grounds, her restriction as punishment for her latest run away. His defense called to testify girls that also lived at the Home and shared the same sentiment towards Gayle Kelly as Rhonda Evans did/does, that Gayle was a liar and couldn't be trusted. One, Delores Perez although she had credibility issues of her own, not only pointed this out but also put into doubt the State's contention about the nature of the relationships between Gayle and Deeb and Gayle and Kenneth. Gayle had a boyfriend, a fact the prosecution didn't expound, it would have raised serious doubts on their Deeb killed Kenneth because of Jealousy over Gayle Kelly. Supporting Dolores Perez on these views would be another girl from the Home; Penny McNutt, better known for her later marriage by proxy to Gilbert Melendez. This opinion that the relationship between Gayle and Kenneth and even what seemed to be Deeb's obsessive behavior towards Gayle wasn't romantic in nature. This was the view of an overwhelming majority of people that were aware of the situation. The best explanation of this confusing situation was Deeb's own partner Karim Qasem. Asked about this while testifying Karim stated Deeb liked a lot of girls, he was looking for a wife so he could stay in America, he like to be flashy spend his money but in his heart there was only one; Kebanna Reed, she was number one. That wasn't verbatim, Karim's English wasn't the best but the jest of what he was saying was clear. Muneer Deeb was in violation of his student visa and didn't want to get deported, so he was trying to get an american wife so he could stay, the same as Karim had done, so yes in his quest Deeb showed interest in any girl he met and he always made the same proposal to these girls, he would pay them $500 to get married, get them more money later and the girls didn't have to do anything there were no strings attached, this was the approach he used on a list of girls too long to name except for one, Kebanna Reed, the girl he was truly infatuated with and had been pursuing and stalking for years and would continue to even after the murders until she finally had him arrested. This was well known by everyone that knew Muneer Deeb, including Gayle Kelly. During the trials Gayle Kelly was rolled out by the prosecution as their so called "star witness" and it's her version or the version she went along with that most people are familiar with but again the question is; but is it the truth?

 

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Where did the narrative of Deeb's infatuation and romantic interest in Gayle Kelly begin and probably more importantly whom crafted the details of this fatal attraction? It is true Lisa Kader, the girl that first reported, on July 19th, Deeb had killed Kenneth because of Gayle Kelly and responded when asked why she believed this stated Deeb liked Gayle and maybe wanted to be her boyfriend. Lisa had also been the girl that told the police about Deeb flashing the gun saying he could take care of Kenneth and she was also the first one to inform the police about Deeb providing the girls from the Home with alcohol and drugs and was the original source of the $500 marriage proposals Deeb had been offering the girls, stating Deeb asked everybody, she had been one of the girls Deeb propositioned. So Lisa Kader seems to be a reliable source of information, far more reliable than so many others connected to this case but she was a close friend of Gayle Kelly and her beliefs could have been swayed by the convictions of her friend and Lisa doesn't report this was definitely the situation but maybe as if it is something she might have been told. And when you look through the records this supposed deadly love triangle is refuted by many with details to support their view. It was Gayle Kelly that weaved this tale, later picked up and repeated by David Spence's girlfriend at the time Christine Juhl but even in their stories there are glaring differences.

Did Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice stop by the Rainbow Drive-In and did tell Muneer Deeb Gayle Kelly would be with them later? All the other information Dana Diamond provided panned; the envelope under the counter that Deeb had told her was an insurance policy. Unfortunately the only other information we have on this comes from the unreliable Gayle Kelly. She states Kenneth Franks did try to get her to come long that evening. Her exact words to me back in 2016; "Did u know ken came to get me that night but as usual I was grounded". Taking a page from Deeb's defense stating he knew Gayle Kelly was restricted to the Methodist Home and untouchable, surely Kenneth Franks was aware of that fact as well. According to Gayle's testimony, it was Kenneth that convinced her to turn herself in telling her it would be better for her rather than being picked up by the authorities Gayle did return to the Home on her own accord on July 5th and was placed on a two week restriction which ended on July 19th at which time Gayle ran away again. In her testimony Gayle also states she never saw Kenneth again, she does mention that Kenneth did try to come see her one time, not giving any date, but said he wasn't allowed on the grounds because he didn't have a pass, I know other people were allowed on the grounds without a pass, including David Wayne Spence on August 10th. So I guess there will always be debate on rather Deeb was told and expected Gayle to be with the victims that night but if the story is true as it has been told by Gayle Kelly the biggest question I have is would Kenneth Franks, the guy that had just convinced Gayle to return to the Methodist Home for her own good turn around eight days later and ask her to undue that by taking off again just to hang out with friends? I often hear they were teenagers and their behavior was unpredictable and often won't make sense by that can't be the answers to all the things we don't understand about this case. And if Ken did ask Gayle to come out the night of the 13th was it just a coincidence, as I have repeated many times the police don't believe in coincidences and neither do I. Like David Spence, Anthony Melendez and Todd Childers all stated they usually didn't go to Koehne Park, David and Anthony both said Airport Park was where they usually hung out, Anthony would testify he thought that where they were headed, David claimed it was Airport Park where he was that night, and Todd Childers said Midway Park was where he and his from school usually hung out, including John Arnett Jr., one of his friends that was with him that night and was the younger half brother of Gilbert and Anthony. So it was a coincidence that all these guys chose the same night to break their usual social habits and go to Koehne Park? That's a hard one to swallow. Or when Gayle reported the break-ins of Patti Deis' apartment stopped about a week after the murders once she and Muneer Deeb started hanging out together again, just another coincidence? If all these occurrences were just coincidences I would think this case would have the world record for most coincidences in one case in the history of law enforcement.

 

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And now the most intriguing thing Gayle Kelly told me, actually when she told me I had to ask her if she might have just mixed up the names but going over our correspondences a few days ago I see she actually had mentioned it to me twice, I guess I missed the first reference because she didn't give the last name, so apparently she wasn't mixing up the names. Gayle asked me if I knew about what David Spence had done to her friends Lisa Kader and Bobby Brem. I responded I knew about what happened to Lisa Kader. It was Lisa Kader's encounter with David that put him of Simons and Baier's radar. As she had been the first to give investigators Muneer Deeb's name, she was also the first one to give a glimpse of David's violent behavior. When Lisa Kader talked to Simons and Baier on September 11th, she told them about the incident she had had with Spence August 10th, the same day David Spence was allowed on the Methodist Home grounds without a pass. That Lisa never reported this incident to the police, Simons and Baier had to questioned the validity of her claim. The girl Lisa had gone out with that night Faye Pearson did confirm that Lisa had told her that night after they returned to the Home what David had done to her and not only that stated she had told Lisa to not report it and just forget about it because David Spence was crazy and she didn't know what he would do if Lisa reported him. But Lisa did have physical evidence, she still had the marks on her body, remind you a month after the incident occurred, where David Spence had viciously and violently bitten her. When Simons saw these marks he thought they looked similar to the marks that were on Jill Montgomery's body the day her body was discover. At that point David Wayne Spence joined Muneer Mohammed Deeb as prime suspects in the Lake Waco Murders. So I was fully aware of what David had done to Lisa Kader, it was Gayle asking about Bobby Brem that threw me for a loop. Again when she told me this I thought maybe she had just mixed up the names, I asked her if she was referring to Darvin Pack? Gayle could have known Pack, he had just turned 18 at the time David and Gilbert assaulted him on September 5th. After Gayle first asked if I knew about this incident between Bobby and David she would never answer any of my questions about it, I tried to get answers from Bobby but he wouldn't reply, it's obvious Gayle and Bobby don't want to talk about this. If David Spence did have a physical confrontation with Bobby Brem, one of Kenneth Franks' closest friends, it would suggest there could have been an on going conflict between Spence and this circle of friends prior to the murders and in the police reports we can see information that might give us hints of this.

 

[BKL67]

To a man the officers that worked the case from the beginning thought the murders were drug related and most if not all never moved away from that belief even after the convictions. Honestly it's unclear if Truman Simons and Dennis Baier ever considered it a possibility they were on Deeb and Spence so fast and rightfully so, that is where the information they obtained led them. By the end of September 10th, the first day they took over the case, they had heard so many questionable things about Deeb; i.e. comments he had made about the murders, the request he made of Patty Pick to steal Kebanna Reed's sister's keys, whom Patty worked with, so Deeb could make copies so he could gain access to the apartment, the stalking of Kebanna Reed, sitting outside her apartment all hours of the night. All this proved was Muneer Deeb was a creep but could he be a killer. He definitely deserved to be checked out and at that time topped their suspect list. Although the common perception is Simons and Baier only went after Deeb and Spence this is not true. The tip on Deeb Lisa Kader had given to the original investigators, whom failed to follow it up, wasn't the first thing Simons and Baier chose to address. Just as Bobby Brem's inclination towards not knowing Jill Montgomery raised a red flag with the original investigators, which led them to track down Rhonda Evans who confirmed Bobby Knew Jill and that she and Jill had stayed at Bobby's house for a couple nights when they ran away but didn't provide much more information, I wouldn't expect her to say anything about David Spence who would become her life long friend, Simons and Baier realized that same red flag and thought as close as Bobby was to two of the victims he had to know more than he was telling. When Simons and Baier interviewed Bobby on September 10th he did admit there was friction between Kenneth Franks and Muneer Deeb, the cause of he friction Bobby gave was that Kenneth and his friends, including Bobby, made fun of Deeb calling him names like Abdul and flipping him off. Bobby never mentioned anything about drugs or that Deebs was giving drugs to the girls from the Home, surely something he was aware of. But now Knowing what Gayle Kelly told me was Bobby Brem hiding even more information? Gayle Kelly would even tell Simons and Baier that it was that Deeb was giving her and the girls from the Home drugs as the reason Kenneth didn't like or had a problem with Deeb, again deflecting any possible drug connection between the two. On September 11th Simons and Baier interview Lisa Kader and she tells them, just as she had told the officers on July 19th, that Deeb was providing the girls with drugs. So obviously Simons and Baier knew and were informed of the drug angle. And although their thoughts and views aren't clear on this what is clear is the person that moved them away from the drug angle and that would be the State's future star witness Gayle Kelly.

 

[BKL67]

To truly understand the scope and depth of this sad tragedy, you have to understand the collective life experiences of the cast of characters involved, their flaws and their attributes, their motivations, what made them tick and why. Muneer Deeb wanted nothing more than to achieve the American dream but as time went by and he had been unable to fulfill this desire he started to last out. David Spence was an ex-con that just couldn't get his like together, he looked for anything that could help him out, he was lucky he found a young girl that by that time David counted on for his survival. That girl was Christine Juhl someone that hadn't had the best childhood and family life growing up, she had left home at 16, she was struggling to make it on her own when she met Spence freshly out of the pen, both looking for some stability in their lives. Even all the kids from the Methodist Home had their own problems and issues, including Jill Montgomery and Kenneth Franks. And there was Gayle Kelly, up until a few years before the murders, I guess some would say was the perfect daughter, when her mother became ill Gayle dedicated her time to caring and being there for her mother, the death of her mother was a crushing blow, one that was followed only a short time later by more heartbreak that was as equally as devastating. Gayle's father had found a new love, one that didn't want anything to do with the kids from the previous marriage. Gayle's father had to choose between his two daughters and his new love, he chose the latter and with that the two sisters were shipped off. That is how Gayle Kelly came to the Methodist Home. Fifteen years old and she had already seen how cruel and unforgiving the world could be and by that young age realized you have to take whatever you can get in this world because it doesn't come easy. Enter Muneer Deeb still falling short of his goal, he had plenty to give and even more to take. It was a train wreck waiting to happen but no one could foresee the awful carnage awaiting at the end of the line.

It is inexplicable why after being told Deeb killed Kenneth the Waco PD never tried to talk to Deeb, interview him or question him and never mentioning or asking any of the friends of the victims about him, especially Gayle Kelly who they would interview the day after they were given this information, being they were told Gayle was the reason Deeb had killed Kenneth. But on the other hand none of the friends that were interviewed ever said anything about Muneer Deeb to any law enforcement, not until Bobby Brem and Gayle Kelly were directly asked about Deeb by Simons and Baier in September and even then they both withheld information. Gayle Kelly's story is the one most people are familiar with and for most part the people connected to the case agree to at least the timeline of the chain of events. Dating the events and creating a concrete timeline is difficult because no one remembered exact dates and we only have dated documentation on a few of those events Gayle's version of events is as follows; being tired of living at the Home again she decides it's time to run away again. One day after getting off work from Fort Fisher she decides not to return to the Home, although we don't know the exact date on this but it would have been in the Methodist Home files. Gayle calls Deeb and asks for money for a bus ticket, Deeb asks her where is she going, it's somewhere in the Dallas area. Deeb tells her he needed to go see some friends or family in Dallas anyway and he would give her a ride. After some hesitation Gayle finally agrees and Deeb drives Gayle to her desired destination. Upon arrival Deeb gives Gayle some spending money, Gayle would state it was about $200, and then Deeb tells her to call him when she wants to return to Waco and he will come get her. About a week later Deeb gets the call from Gayle to come pick her up, which Deeb does of coarse. During the ride back to Waco Deeb tells Gayle he has rented an apartment for Gayle and offers Gayle a job at his store. At that time Gayle declines, the reason she gives is that Deeb's store is right across the street from the Methodist Home and if she worked there she would most definitely get caught, she tells Deeb she will just stay with her friend Patti Deis who also had just recently started renting an apartment at the Northwood Apartments. This is what Gayle does her first night back in Waco, I guess during the night Gayle and Patti discuss the situation and the offer Deeb has made to Gayle. Patti had enlisted in the Army and would be leaving Waco at some point and then Gayle would need a place to go and Deeb has this apartment and is paying the rent, Gayle to work and save up some money and then if things were uncomfortable staying at Deeb's apartment she could afford to move out on her own. The next day Gayle goes to the Rainbow Drive-In and tells Deeb she accepts his offer and moves in that day. She only stays two or three nights, some say Gayle stayed two nights and left on the third night, others say she left on the second night, Gayle herself states she left on the second night. The second night being the night that the confrontation took place that is usually depicted as the spark that ignited the fuse that exploded into violence about three weeks later. It was when Gayle agreed to work for Deeb that he took the insurance policy out on her. Now we have dated documentation on a coupe of these events, most importantly when Gayle Kelly signed that insurance policy. We know Gayle and Deeb didn't have any contact with each other, didn't see each other, talk to each other and after this altercation Galye decided not to go to work for Deeb and she didn't go to the Rainbow Drive-In from the time of the confrontation at the apartment until after the murders. So when she signed that insurance policy roughly gives us a time frame to when Gayle stayed at the apartment, it had to be one or two days within the day she signed, which was June 22nd.

 

[BKL67]

Other dates we can nail down via documents are the dates Muneer Deeb and Patti Deis signed their leases for their apartments; Deeb June 1, 1982, paying for two months up front. Patti signed her lease the next Day; June 2nd. That Deeb signed on June 1st makes me question if his original intent was to rent that apartment for Gayle Kelly as the story as been told by all that were in the know. Deeb would claim to be the case, although I believe his reason for claiming this was he was trying to prove there were no problems between he and Gayle, paint himself to be the good guy. Yes they had a fallen out but it was nothing, he was taking care of Gayle renting an apartment for her, paying the bills, giving her money and anything else she needed. That this was the case was pretty well supported by everybody. My question is this if Deeb originally rented the apartment of June 1st for Gayle Kelly why didn't he tell her about it until about three weeks later when he was bringing her back to Waco? If not sooner, why wouldn't he tell Gayle about it when she first ran away before he took her to Dallas, at that time he knew she needed a place to stay. Christine Juhl tried to clear it up for me when I was talking to her. Her recollection is that Gayle did know about the apartment from the beginning, well before she ran away. And according to Christine; Gayle had agreed to Deeb's $500 carte blanche marriage proposal and they planned getting the apartment together, Gayle agreeing to live if Deeb, Christine adds Gayle even picked out the furniture for the apartment. Well this was the first time I had heard this version of the chain of events, it's not in any of the police reports, not in the trial transcripts, including Christine Juhl's testimony. At the time Christine told me this Gayle and I were still communicating, so of coarse I had to ask her about this revaluation. Her reply; she never had any agreement or made any arrangements with Deeb about the apartment or anything else, Deeb offered her the apartment and she took it. Who Who do we believe? Another issue on which Christine and Gayle disagree on is the nature of the relationship between Gayle and Deeb, Gayle has always claimed it wasn't romantic in nature, they were only friends and Deeb knew this. This being the common response from all the girls Deeb spend money on including Kebanna Reed and Dana Diamond. On the other hand Christine states the relationship between Gayle and Deeb was a romantic relationship well at least Deeb believed so and Gayle led him on in this belief, again who do we believe? So we see Christine and Gayle differ in their accounts on some things but it's the event that they agree on, Christine and in turn David Spence being the only people doing so that raises the most questions. And that would be on what happened that night at the apartment that caused Gayle to leave the apartment. I think it's safe to say Christine told David her version and that's all he knew about it. But where did Christine hear her version? I asked her and she never gave me an answer. All the people from the store had a different version, Christine wasn't working the night it happened and she hadn't moved into the Northwood apartment Gayle left that night. Christine was still living in the small apartment behind the store Deeb had helped her get to get away from David, although as the insurance policy would prove David had worked his way back into her life by that time, she signed the policy June 22nd the same as Gayle. This was the same apartment Dana Diamond would move into once Christine and David moved to the Northwood apartment, at that time she was still crashing on her brother's couch in the apartment above. Gayle and Christine's version is that Deeb walked in on Gayle and Kenneth Franks, Gayle states she and Kenneth were laying on the floor just talking, Christine stated they were doing a little more than that. Deeb;s version was that he went to the apartment and Gayle was throwing a party and the apartment was full of kids drinking beer, that they probably were given from his store and smoking weed, again probably supplied by Deeb. This was the version told by everyone else, yes gotten from Deeb. This included Kebanna Reed, Dana Diamond, Karem and probably most import Karem's wife Maria, usually referred to as "Lisa". Maria/Lisa gives us the most detailed account of what happened that night. Maria didn't spend a lot of time at the store, not as much as Deeb and Karem, she and Karem had recently had a baby and she spend most of her time at home caring for the kid. She was aware and didn't approve of the way Deeb was spending or wasting his money on these girls she didn't think were worthy but she didn't know the finer details of the situation. The night in question Deeb wanted to go to the apartment to spend time with Gayle, Maria agreed to come to the store and fill in for him So It would be Karem and Maria working at the store that night. Maria arrives at the store, Deeb takes off. a short time later Deeb returns upset and in a very agitated state, Karem and Maria try to calm him down and ask him to tell them what happened. Deeb tells them that Gayle was having a party at the party and the kids are drinking beer and smoking pot, he is going to states he is going to kick out Gayle. Then he gives what has to be considered the most important detail, Gayle was kissing this guy when he confronted Gayle about it, she told him not to worry the guy is just her brother, Deeb expressed to Maria you don't kiss your brother like that. After hearing Deeb's story Maria decides to go to the apartment to see what's going on for herself and confront Gayle. When Maria arrives to the apartment it is empty, she finds Gayle sitting on the hood of a car in the parking lot between two boys, she describes as one white boy and one Mexican boy. Maria and Gayle return to the apartment where Maria gets on her about the way Gayle is taking Deeb's money. In her defense Gayle tries to point out Deeb is not spending as much money on her as he is with Kebanna Reed, Deeb has bought Kebanna a ring and going to the closet Gayle pulls out some new dresses Deeb has bought for Kebanna. After the exchange Gayle decides to leave the apartment and return to Patti Deis'. Maria's detailed account is very telling. As I said earlier I would question if Deeb had gotten the apartment for Gayle in the first place from Maria's account I think would could ask did he actually get it for Kebanna Reed. At the time Kebanna was staying at her sister's and Deeb was paying the rent and other bills as Kebanna needed, Kebanna was the girl Deeb was infatuated with, he obviously wanted to marry her that's why he bought the ring. I asked Christine Juhl about the difference between how Deeb treated Kebanna and Gayle, remind you Christine had known and was friends with Deeb at least a year before she went to work for him and she was well aware of the situation with Kebanna Reed, Deeb had been pursuing her for years. She told me Kebanna had more expensive taste that Gayle, Gayle was happy to get anything Kebanna was harder to please and wanted more. So the issue of whom Deeb had rented can be questioned it wasn't the most important disclosure maria made about that night, that would be reserved for her description of the two boys, neither of which she knew and what Deeb called kissing not like you would kiss your brother. I should point out Maria was of Mexican descent so people shouldn't get offended by her describing the one boy as Mexican. Actually the night of the murders Maria wasn't in Waco she was visiting her mother in Mexico. I think we can take it the white boy was Kennneth Franks, again Maria didn't know Kenneth but it's the possible identity of the other boy that properly explain what occurred that night. At that time Gayle had a boyfriend and he was of Mexican descent, his name was Henry Reyes, he and Gayle would marry later. Wouldn't it be more logical that Gayle would be kissing her boyfriend like you wouldn't kiss your brother? And also Muneer Deeb knew Kenneth Franks by that time and knew he wasn't Gayle's brother. We only have to look at the information Lou Booker would provide Dennis Baier in November 1982. , that Deeb, Gayle and Jill had an argument about Kenneth Franks and this was before Gayle ran away and went to Dallas and then returned to Waco and moved into the apartment, this confrontation stuck out in Ms. Booker's mind where she would recall it many months later, without being asked I remind you. Are we to believe Kenneth Franks calling Deeb Abdul and flipping him off was enough to set Deeb off in a rage and go to Gayle's place of employment and cause a scene or was there something else that was already bringing this clash between friends to a boiling point?

 

[BKL67]

Information of Kenneth Franks' drug use, drug dealing, that he owed some one money or had burned someone on a drug and that altercations had already taken place permeate the police reports. Sure some of these reports were just rumors but as is the case with most rumors, usually they are rooted in truth as time goes by and the story spreads the facts get lost, names, dates and events get conflated to the point finding the truth becomes nearly impossible. As I stated before the Waco PD believed and were all over the drug angle and taking a look at the information they received about Kenneth's drug activity, the information they got from Lisa Kader that Deeb killed Kenneth because of Gayle Kelly and that Deeb was giving drugs to the girls at the Methodist Home, that Ramon Salinas and Mike Nicoletti thought the break-ins of Patti Deis' apartment were connected to the murders, that both the girls that were staying in that apartment, Gayle Kelly and Patti Deis had recently been residents of the Methodist Home, as had two of the victims Jill Montgomery and Kenneth Franks and both these victims were reported to be close friends of Gayle and Patti, it's a little perplexing Waco Pd never even tried to connect Deeb's philanthropist drug dealing and Kenneth's drug activity, although both had strong ties or connections to the Methodist Home. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see where I am going with this one but neither did anyone in the Waco PD have to be either to at least look in this direction but in their roughly 50 day investigation, July 14th through September 3rd, they never mention Deeb, never asking any of the dozens of kids they interviewed or talked to, many of those being girls from the Methodist Home, about Muneer Deeb. Lisa Kader comes in on July 19th and tells them Deeb killed Kenneth because of Gayle and that Deeb is supplying drugs to the girls at the Home and the officers do absolutely nothing.

Although some of the information told to the Waco PD were clearly rumors, different names were thrown around, never any last names, as possibly being the person that Kenneth was having the problem with and owed money to, the altercations that reported was it multiple altercations or just one, when did these or this occur? But there are many consistencies in these rumors, apparently the rumors hadn't spread that far, the reports bear this out many of the kids reporting these details were kids that lived and knew Kenneth Franks from the Methodist Home, remind you outside of the kids from the Methodist Home the local teenagers were unaware of Deeb's free drug give away. The Methodist Home had approximately 200 kids living there at any one time, living in dorms of 12, from small kids, preteens, that you would believe or at least hope were not aware nor partook of the goodies being handed out at the candy store across the street, to kids in their late teens, so it was a small group that knew and were living the Rainbow Drive-In administered fantasy life, soon to become Waco's worst nightmare.

 

[BKL67]

If by some miracle I haven't made things confusing to this point I know that is about to change, so I want to apologize beforehand. One of the most interesting consistent details reported in the otherwise questionable rumor fest that are the Waco PD's reports is the amount of money Kenneth Franks owed his mysterious unhappy drug connection. Five hundred is the amount mentioned multiple times in these reports. That might not sound like much in today's drug infested society but in the early 80's $500 to a teen, especially one without a job, that would have been a nice pinch of cash and even to a local low level drug dealer that would be willing to take the risk making a deal with a financially insecure youth being burned for that amount couldn't just slide. And although there are many details in questions as to the girls, Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice, activities that day what we do have more than adequate proof of is the check cashing spree they went on that day. The question that remains is why and this is where the confusion begins.

Raylene Rice's parents kept their distance from the case not attending the trials, not giving victim impact statements, Mrs. Rice would never even talk to any law enforcement seeking information so overwhelming the devastation she felt over the loss of her daughter. Jill's mother didn't fare much better but she was able to provide information, especially crucial details concerning the few days preceding the murders Raylene's father did the best he could but from the very beginning he was at a lost not even aware Raylene had driven Jill to Waco until Mr. Franks called early the morning of July 14th after the kids were missing. It's understandable the desire to avoid the circus dredging up every little detail that can be found good or bad, fact or fiction, truth or rumor and repeatedly displayed to a captivated public audience, retreat from under the intrusive microscope the only recourse, the toll immeasurable. Neither of the girls' parents' personal relationships' were able to survive the grief and heartbreak of this life altering tragedy. The one telling detail about Raylene we do get from her father and records seem to support is Raylene's parents demanded she be financially responsible, her parents would take half of each of her pay checks to help pay bills, Raylene was never late on a car payment or insurance payment and then on July 13th, the day she is raped and murdered Raylene makes an unexplainable and unprecedented frivolous $200 discount from her checking account while she is in Waco. Something smells fishy and I'm not standing in a seafood market.

 

[BKL67]

Raylene was paid every two weeks and had just been paid the Friday before, her father estimated her check was about $150, her parents took half, her father adding Raylene couldn't have had more than $75 on her and that she had gone out all weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with her friends and probably spent some of that amount. For the girls' excursion to Waco Jill was provided a gas card from her grandfather, so the girls didn't have to worry about paying for gas. Raylene got off work at noon that day, she met Jill in the parking lot of the K-mart or Walmart, where Jill left her mother's car, that being where Jill's mother's carpool group met. Jill had gone to the Safeway and cashed a personal check for $200, the manager of the store, who knew Jill and her family well, stated Jill came in around noon. Both Jill's father and brother saw the girls getting gas at a local convenience store at approximately 12:45 p.m., given that time allows us to calculate where the girls went first when they arrived in Waco. That would have been Fort Fisher, Lou Booker, Jill and Gayle's former supervisor reported the girls arrived around 2:00 p.m. and did not stay long. Jill just wanted to show Raylene where she had worked and say hi to everyone. Both girls expressed they were hungary and were going to go get something to eat and they were off. The girls' next stop appears to have been at the Ivy Square apartments which were next door to Fort Fisher, the manager, Mrs. Oliver, estimated their arrival to be between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Many questions arise pertaining to this stop. When the victims identities and pictures were broadcast on the local news, Mrs. Oliver called the police to report the girls had stopped by her apartment complex. She was unable to recall the girls' names but she was sure the pictures she saw on the news were the two girl that had stopped by, stating the dark haired girl had asked about renting an apartment, this girl saying she could pay the rent she just needed to go get a check cashed and she would be back, which of coarse never happened. From all indications and information from everybody they, the Waco PD and the Waxahachie PD, talked to both girls were happy with their lives in Waxahachie, especially Jill who had just returned there about three weeks before the murders. She was excited about being able to graduate from her hometown high school, was looking for a job in Waxahachie recently appling and hopeful to land a job at a local Bar-B-Que joint, so that she was trying to rent an apartment in Waco didn't add up. Mrs. Oliver was asked if she was sure it was Jill and Raylene that had stopped by and that's when she explained how she was sure. At the tme one of her tenants, Linda Fuqua, was a staff member of the Methodist Home and she happened to be present at the time the girls stopped by and Mrs. Oliver had heard from the news cast that the victims had lived at the Home. While the girls had stopped at the apartments they were outside talking to three boys, Linda Fuqua had also witnessed this informing Mrs. Oliver that the three boys the girls were talking to were run aways from the Methodist Home. The police reports provide us with the identities of the three boys and their activities. They ran away stealing a series of cars, starting in Waco, traveling south until they were apprehended a few days later. So if it was Jill and Raylene that stopped by the Ivy Square apartments, which I believe to be true, although I have never seen anything in regards to what this staff member Lind Fuqua had to say about it and it just doesn't sound feasible that either Jill or Raylene would have had any interest in renting an apartment in Waco, which I also agree with, what was the reason they stopped by?