June 21, 2024 • 43 mins
Laralee Spear, 15, in her freshman year at DeLand High School, is over the moon after learning she has made the Junior Varsity cheer squad.
Many other hobbies keep her busy--piano lessons, church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keyettes, a school service organization. Spear’s daily routine is to walk home from her bus stop on the corner of Deerfoot Rd and South Spring Garden. The ½ mile walk usually takes about 10 minutes.
Laralee always meets her mother at home by 3:30 p.m., even if she stops to watch the neighbor’s horses. When Laralee is half an hour late, Barbara Spear calls 911 in a panic, reporting her daughter missing.
Just 16 minutes after Barbara Spear was reported missing, Volusia County Sheriff investigators are on the ground searching for the teen. Air One, the Sheriff’s helicopter, is already in the air, and scanning the neighborhood for Laralee.
At 5:35 p.m., the pilot spots a body, behind an abandoned home. A quarter mile from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laralee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the burned-out home, shot to death.
Laralee Spear is found lying in a pool of her blood, shot in the back of the head three times. Spear’s hands had been tied together and much of her clothing was missing or torn away. Spear has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she was beaten. It appears Spear’s attacker attempted to assault her sexually, and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants of Spear’s clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in the days after her death.
Detectives believe Laralee only made it about 200 yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted. They estimate Laralee was dead within 25 minutes of getting off the bus. Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department join Volusia County Sheriffs to canvass Spear’s neighborhood for a week.
Over 1,000 tips are collected in the month following Laralee’s murder, and police learn a group of people were hanging out and shooting guns at the burned-down home where the body is found.
Neighbors also report seeing a dark-colored truck near the crime scene.
Who killed Laralee?
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Virginia Bussell - Laralee’s sister
- Sheriff Mike Chitwood - Volusia County Sheriff; X: @VolusiaSheriff
- Detective Cordell Lemay - Major case/homicide Volusia County Sheriff’s Office,
- Sheryl McCollum - Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, Host of "Zone 7;" X: @149zone7
- Alexis Tereszcuk –(CA) CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories; X: @swimmie2009
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young cheerleader just
fifteen years old, kidnapped then murdered straight off the school
bus in broad daylight. Who killed Laura Lee? Good evening,
(00:21):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us. The tragic slaying of a young fifteen
year old girl haunts a small Florida town. Kidnapped from
her school bus and shot dead. Who killed Laura Lee's spear?
This rural area Deerfoot Road had been insulated from crime
(00:45):
in fear since his inception for decades until this beautiful
young girl. And I've got to tell you, this girl
was everybody's dream. She sang in the church choir shoes
with the keynotes, beautiful voice, straight a's cheerleader, you name it.
(01:09):
This girl was it, the it girl. So how is
it that she steps off her bus, her school bus,
a public school bus with all the other children, and
within minutes she's gone. First of all, take a listen
to this.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Don't you even to stay.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
In the end?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I don't know what something, Laarlie? What's what's your birthday?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Jean Paper's name set?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
How do you feel anything?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The car.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That one's word.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yes, I need the first department.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What's the problem.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
My daughter got off the box.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
The job on left her card.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Get off the bus, my neighbor's car. Get off the
bus and start down the road. It's seven tenths of
a mile to our own. You've always like clockwork at
home at three thirty, my child is not at home.
Speaker 7 (02:14):
List okay, how old is she?
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Fifteen years old?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You can hear a mom's voice starting to crack there
at the end. She calls nine to one one to
report her child missing, her little girl missing within the hour,
within the hour of her stepping off that bus, doing
everything right? How can nobody see anything? Nobody hears, nobody knows,
(02:39):
nobody tells anything about the disappearance and the murder of
Laura Lee. Listen to more of that nine to one
one call.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
How long has she been missing?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
So got a little left to three this afternoon? I
would say approximately between three ten and three fifteen.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
The sets to glass of come.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Okay, where's your bus?
Speaker 9 (03:07):
Stout?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Her boss stop is at Wing Garden Road and dem
Foot Row. We live on dem Foot Row.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're hearing moms staying calm, cool and collected that she
gives the information to nine one one, but I can
hear her voice cracking with me at All Star Pedel
to make sense of what we know right now. I
always like to start with a nine one one call,
as I do when prosecuting a case, because it's unlike
anything else. It's not a witness telling a jury what
(03:35):
happened through their own vision, through their own glasses. It's
what did happen in the moment. And we learn so
much again with Me at All Star Pedel. But first
two special guests Virginia Jenny Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister, Jenny.
(03:56):
Thank you for being with us, Thank you for having me.
Can you remember day that Laura Lee went missing?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Definitely, it's hard to forget. Well. I remember.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
Getting off the school bus that day and walking down
the road, and typically what I do is I just
look at the footprints in the in the on our
dirt road, just to see It's kind of it was
a game that I would use to play where I
would try to figure out Larley's outfit because she would
(04:32):
always walk right before I would. Because I was in
middle and she was in high school, and I saw
that there was multiple sets of footprints, and so I
figured that my mom walked up to the bus stop
to come get her, which was not uncommon. And as
I made my weight down, I encountered one of my
(04:55):
neighbors that told me that I really need My mom
had been looking for me and she didn't know where
I was, which I thought was odd because it was.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
My normal time.
Speaker 10 (05:06):
And so I hurried home to find her on the
phone with the Sheriff's department, and she was in hysterics
at that point, and she was asking me to check
the house, go upstairs to check her room to see
if she was there, and maybe she had missed her,
like she may have taken a nap or something and
she just didn't hear her come in. So I went
(05:28):
and I looked, and I couldn't find her, and I
relead the information to my mom, and shortly thereafter we
had a deputy come to the house to assist. Then,
I want to say a few hours later, maybe time
(05:49):
kind of stood still, we had a chaplain come to
the house. I didn't know at the time why.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
But.
Speaker 10 (06:05):
When he related the information to my parents, that had
to be the hardest thing to watch. At first, I thought, oh,
she's hurt, she's somewhere, she's at the hospital. We'll go
and get her. I think goes in shock, but then
(06:34):
realizing that she wasn't going to come home. That's what
it hit hard.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
When Ginny did you discover that she had been killed?
Speaker 10 (06:46):
At that time, when the chapelain came and my mom
was in hysterics when he told her the news.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
When you say his Derek's what do you mean, she.
Speaker 10 (07:05):
Was crying and yelling out, my baby, think they killed
my baby.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Guys with me is Jenny Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister,
recounting the moment a chaplain showed up at their home
to tell them laure Lee wasn't just missing, she was
dead and someone had killed her. In addition to Virginia
(07:35):
Jenny Bissell is Sheriff Mike Chitwood from the Vlusha County
Sheriff's Office and Detective Cordell LeMay. Gentlemen, thank you for
being with us, along with Cheryl McCollum and Alexis Terreschuk.
To Sheriff Chitwood, I want to thank you gentlemen so
much for being with us. Sheriff. I've seen that over
(07:58):
and over and it happened to me as well when
I became a victim of violent crime. The families trying
to think of any alternative other than she's dead and
someone killed her. We just heard Jimmy stating, Oh, well,
she's at the hospital, we can go get her. Are
we're going to fix it or she's going to be okay,
(08:20):
And then that moment when they're told, for instance, in
this case, this child is never coming home and that
someone killed her.
Speaker 10 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (08:32):
I think Jinny hit it right on the head when
she said that she was in shock and it doesn't
sink in the finality of what has occurred. And I
think most crime victims, you know, they leave the room
of their loved one intact the way it was the
last time they sold them forever because that losing a
(08:53):
loved one and having that piece of you cut out,
there's no way that's ever going to get put back there.
It's never going to come back, and you kind of
disassociate yourself from the reality of it because you don't
want to believe that this actually happened.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
To understand a kidnap murder, to begin to even try
to solve it, you have to understand who is your
victim listens, Laura.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
Lee Spear, fifteen in her freshman year at DeLand High School,
is over the moon to learn she's made Junior varsity
cheer squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy, piano lessons,
church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keiettes, a school
service organization. David and Barbara Spear are immensely proud of
their model student, and Laura Lee's punctuality and stellar grades
(09:39):
make her a great role model for her younger sister, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace straight out to another special
guest joining us attadive Cordell LeMay, Major case homicide detective
in Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Detective, thank you for being
with us. I also think, detective, that the start the
(10:11):
harsh dichotomy, the trying to get your mind around the
fact that you just saw your daughter a couple of
hours ago when she left to go to school, and
everything was fine. I've heard that phrase one hundred times
from crime victim's families. Everything was fine, and then suddenly
(10:33):
they learn not only is the little girl dead, kidnapped
off the school bus after she takes a few steps
from a school bus, but that someone killed her. It
wasn't a car accident, it wasn't some other type of mishap.
Someone actually targeted a little teen cheerleader getting off the
(10:53):
school bus and murdered her.
Speaker 8 (10:56):
Yeah, just to look at the facts of the case
like that, it's it's horrible, obscene even and it's a
it's a terrible situation. You have Laurley Spear here, fifteen
year old girl, like you said, a model student, a
model daughter, and she's a true victim. Didn't have a
(11:22):
bad bone in her body, just minding her own business,
going about her life getting off the school bus. From
what I understand, she wanted to be a doctor, I
think a veterinarian when she grew up, and that all
that was taken away from her, she never got that chance.
All that was taken away from her family by some
(11:46):
you know, awful person out there that probably got most
likely free, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
And knowing the entire time that he and I guarantee you,
of course I'm not an eyewitness, but it is a
he knowing he has little really gotten away with the murder.
Well not if we have anything to do it. Let's
go back to the moment that Mom realizes Laura Lee
(12:11):
is not coming home. She hasn't made it home off
that school bus.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
And she was.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Very, very punctual. We hear that throughout. She doesn't go
meander around the neighborhood. She doesn't go to a friend's
house without telling mom. Nothing like that. No trips to
the mall after school. She walked straight home. That's how
Mom knew in her core that something was horribly wrong.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Listen, start walking home, Yeah, my neighborhood. Start down the road.
Speaker 9 (12:41):
Start walking towards the house.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
And she's not today neighbor's house or anything we have.
You know, if you're checking the.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Neighbors, call all the neighbors, they all say that.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Well, but.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
May said the next compty not fear at their house.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
Okay, hold on one second.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Okay, So she got on about three three fifteen. He
got off the books for approximately three tens of Previousteen, okay,
hold lot of seconds.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Joining me In addition to Laurlee's sister Jenny Bissell, Detective LeMay,
and Sheriff Chitwood, Cheryl McCollum is joining US forensics expert,
the founder of the Cold Case Research Institute and star
of a hit podcast Zone seven. Cheryl, thank you for
being with us. You and I have seen a lot
of missing person cases. We've seen a lot of homicide
(13:36):
cases as a matter of fact, the last seven to
eight years, and the District Attorney's office I handled strictly
and exclusively murder, serial murder, cerial rape, cyril child, mola
station and any type of arson. So we have certainly
seen a lot of cases. But a child getting kidnapped
(13:59):
and murder straight off the school bus, and of course
everybody looks at the school bus driver. It wasn't the
school bus driver. The driver just kept going with the children,
was still driving the bus by the time that Laurale's
body was found. Cheryl, here is a stark and jarring
(14:21):
statistic that I learned from Mark Class Victims' Rights Champion.
Over well over thirty percent of child strangers stranger abductions
occur on a school route, going to school, walking to school,
walking to the bus, coming back home, getting off the bus,
(14:42):
drop off, pickup. That right there, and that should shake
the shoulders of everybody in Congress if they could look
up for their money making ventures and realize that that's
where money needs to go in policing, school bus trouts,
school bus stops, school buses. But that's a whole nother
(15:04):
can of worms. Let me get back to something that
I can actually affect, and that is finding Laura Lee's killer.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Jump in Nancy from where the bus dropped her off
the walk to her home. When I walked the scene
and drove it with Detective le May, what leaped out
at me is from where she was dropped off to
the crime scene, she literally had to pass her house.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
This person in broad daylight.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Knew a remote location of a house that had been
burned down a year before half law Lee's home to
drive her to that location. So to me, that tells
me this killer was familiar with that area.
Speaker 12 (15:53):
Spears daily routine is to walk home from her bus
stop on the corner of Deerfoot Road out Spring Garden.
The one half mile walk usually takes about ten minutes.
Laura Lee always meets her mother at home by three
point thirty, even if she stops to watch the neighbor's horses.
When laur Lee is a half an hour late, Barbara
Spear calls nine to one one in a panic, reporting
(16:16):
her daughter missing.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
Laura Lee's Spear only fifteen years old, abducted, shot just
yards away from her home. Her body found in a
burned down, abandoned house.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I've been listening very carefully to all the nine one
one calls, and I want you to hear something that
is integral and every parent should know this. Listen.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Could I'd come back out and look she would be
carrying or she would have had the room her.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Back back back.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, okay, Mom knows exactly what Laura Lee is wearing.
She can describe the backpack. I can describe my children's shoes,
their socks, what they're wearing. The works eggsists exactly every day.
I know my children wore today and summer break. Did
(17:08):
you hear the mom? She is that attentive to her
child that she knows exactly what Laura Lee's even her
backpack looks like joining me in All Star panel, But
I want to go back to Laurreley's sister, Virginia Jenny
Bissell and speaking to Jenny. As I have discovered with
so many other crime victims of violent crime, it never
(17:32):
goes away. It's always just beneath the surface and anything
much less somebody asking you a direct question about it,
anything can trigger it. It never goes away. Would you
agree with that, Jenny.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That's absolutely correct.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
How that affected your life? What makes you remember, Like
in the middle of a day, You'll be having a
perfectly fine day and all of a sudden, somebody brings
it up up or something reminds you. What triggers that
Laura Le's the memory of Laura Lee's disappearance and murder.
Speaker 10 (18:08):
Anything can really trigger a memory, like just going about
my day, or even like talking.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
To my parents.
Speaker 10 (18:22):
It's it can be anything, to be quite honest, like
even hearing a song from back in the day. It's
it can be a multitude of things. Even driving around
town because I still live in DeLand and stay close
to my parents, So just even driving to the house
because they still live in the same house, so taking
(18:46):
that road every day, it just reminds me.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I understand, your parents, particularly your mom has never quote
gotten over Laura Lee's murder.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Right, Yeah, It's significantly impacted her.
Speaker 10 (19:05):
All of our lives really, but definitely for her, she
feels the guilt.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think it's survivor's guilt for.
Speaker 10 (19:14):
Us because for me, just walking down knowing that I
took the same step so she did that same day
and thinking why her it should have been me, you know,
like I wish it was me, you know, I mean,
those thoughts happened a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
One thing I know is that the moment that nine
on one call was made, Ellie, law enforcement jumped into
action Lessen.
Speaker 7 (19:41):
Just sixteen minutes after Barbara Spear reports fifteen year old
Laura Lee missing, the Lucia County Sheriffs are on the
ground searching for the teen. Air one the Sheriff's helicopter
is already in the air and begins scanning the neighborhood
for Laura Lee. At five point thirty five pm, the
pilot spots a body lying behind an abandoned home, while
from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laura
(20:03):
Lee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the
burned out home, shot to.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Death and shot multiple times. This girl, this teen cheerleader,
an honor student, shot multiple times, her body only spotted
by helicopter flying over. It was so far back in
a burned out home that only a local would have
(20:29):
known about. In addition to our all star panel, including
laur Lee's sister, Jenny, Alexis Terschak is joining us investigative
reporter crimeonline dot Com Alexis, thank you for being with us.
For those just joining us, give me a recap about
how Laura Lee went missing that afternoon.
Speaker 13 (20:49):
So Laurlee, fifteen years old, freshman in high school, gets
off her school list. She lives kind of on a
whirl road. This is Florida, in DeLand, Florida. It's a
little bit east in a little bit south of dayt
Ti a beach, very leafy. This isn't right on the water.
And she normally walks home less than a mile point
seven tenths of a mile takes her about ten minutes.
She walks every single day. She comes home from the
(21:12):
school on the school bus. She does not arrive at home.
She gets off the bus between three and three fifteen pm.
She is always home by three thirty. The neighbors in
between the school bus and her house they have horses.
She loves to stop there and look at the horses
and then we'll make her way home. So she does
not arrive at home, and her mom panics. She starts
(21:33):
calling around. She calls her friend. The friend says, nope,
I saw her get off the bus. She calls the
neighbor the next do her neighbor. There's one house between them.
The neighbor says, no, she is not here, and then
the mom calls the police immediately, right away, doesn't wait
two hours, doesn't think, well, maybe she stayed at school
or a friend picked her up or anything. Because this
(21:55):
girl is so punctual. She's a straight A student. She
just made the JV cheerly squad. She volunteers at school.
She never give she as you can see, she plays
the piano. She does everything by the book. So her
mom knew immediately that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Exactly how was Laureley found tilled, because, as we all know,
details matter.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
Laura at least Spear is found lying in a pool
of her own blood, shot in the back of the
head three times. Spear's hands had been tied together, and
much of her clothing is missing or torn away. Spear
has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she
was beaten. It appears Spears's attacker attempted to sexually assault her,
(22:40):
and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants
of Spear's clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in
the days after her death, The tragic slaying of a
young fifteen year old girl haunts a small Florida town.
Kidnapped from her school bus and shot dead. Who killed
La relieve spear what clues were left behind?
Speaker 7 (23:05):
Listen immediately after Laura Lee's spear has found shot. It's
all hands on deck to find out what happened to
the teen in her short walk home from the bus.
Detectives believe Laura Lee only made it about two hundred
yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted.
They estimate Laura Lee was dead within twenty five minutes
of getting off the bus. The bus driver says, nothing
seemed out of the ordinary as you watched Laura Lee
(23:27):
start her walk home, and a small group of people
selling plans along the route also don't recall seeing anything
or anyone suspicious as Laura Lee passed by.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
To Cheryl McCollum, a forensics expert who has personally investigated
this case as well, along with Sheriff Chipwood and Detective
le May, Cheryl, two hundred yards, it's all over in
two hundred yards. That tells me the purp had to
be in a vehicle, who would know about that area
and that burned out house other than a local. The
(23:57):
house was not right on the street. And it all
happened within two hundred yards that's not even a football field.
That also tells me this was not just a crime
of opportunity. Somebody knew about that bus stop. Somebody had
targeted Laura Lee. That opens me up to who. Okay,
(24:17):
I know where mom and dad are, so they can
be ruled out, But who had seen her at one
of the games where she was a cheerleader, Who had
seen her at some of her many activities she took
part in, of course, And you've got to look at
those closest to her. Although I mentioned the parents have
(24:37):
been ruled out, but beyond that, you've got to look
at uncles. You've got to look at family. Somebody that
knew she was getting off that bus stop. Then what
do you make of just two hundred yard Cheryld Nancy?
Speaker 4 (24:52):
You make bus stops. They are a pattern built in
for kidnappers. They know exactly when that bus is going
to be at the intersection, and they don't have to
follow it more than one day to know that only
one student gets off there from the high school.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
I believe this person is local.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I believe they did know her in some way, and
I absolutely know they knew that area, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Well, I mean, Cheryl, I don't disagree with you, but
that's just a bald assertion. Explain why again.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
That house is way off the road, it had been
burned out a year before. Local teenagers went there to
drink and smoke pot and hang out.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
It's a very narrow group that would know.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
That house, be familiar with that house, know that Laura
Lee would get off the bus by herself, be able
to grab her, control her, because they did have a firearm,
drive her to the house, tie her up, assault her,
get rid of her book bag, and drive away.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
This was very fast. This was not a long drawn
out crime by any means.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
To Sheriff Mike Shipwood, the elected sheriff in Volusia County Sheriff,
thank you for being with us. Listening to Cheryl speak,
it jumps out at me that if this was a
teen hangout, then a natural assumption, not a leap of logic,
would be that a teen, an older teen did this.
(26:18):
And of course we know the killers typically not always,
but typically kill within their own race. That tells me
I'm looking at a white male between I know we
can drive between sixteen and to really push it, I
go to twenty five to twenty nine max. What do
(26:39):
you make of that?
Speaker 11 (26:40):
That's exactly what the investigators focused on in the yearly goings.
You know, this killer brought a firearm, and the killer
brought a ligature to be able to fasten her hands
together and tie her up. And again, as everybody keeps saying,
this burned down house, when you if you go see
the topography, you don't know about that unless you're from
(27:01):
that area. You're back there drinking, you're back there smoking weed.
It's got to be somebody that can drive. It's somebody
that's familiar with the comings and goings there, And that's
what the investigation has focused on through all of these years.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And it's somebody to detective of Cordell Lea May. It's
somebody that's not at work in the middle of the
day that strikes me. I grew up in one of
those homes where everybody either went to school or they
went to work, and nobody ever laid out. Nobody even
dared say, ooh, I feel bad today. No, everybody goes
(27:33):
to work. And I walked home every day from school
on a dirt road, just like Jenny is describing where
crime nobody ever even heard of it, just like around
the time when she Laura Lee goes missing. Hey, Detective
le May, I'm curious about the ligature, and the Sheriff's
(27:58):
brought up a really good point. This person came prepared,
they had ligatures, they had a gun, they were in
a vehicle, they wanted at work, and they knew about
this hideout and this old burned out house where tane smoked.
And did pot So question what type of ligatures were used?
Speaker 8 (28:16):
So it's it was.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It was rope.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
It was a thin rope like twine almost, and it
was loosely tied around her wrists. So it's not like
this person was, you know, an expert or you know,
a boy scout or something like that where they were
familiar with tighten note knots. I was looped around a
couple of times, not super tight, but uh, you know,
(28:39):
it was enough to bind her hands and keep keep
her from using them. And you know, unless at some
point during during what happened, she managed to loosen up
herself and for herself a little bit, there's no way
to know that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You know Sherylan colem Based on what Detective Cordell Lea
May just said, it may not have required tight buying.
If she had taken a blow to the face or
any attack at all, I doubt that she could have
fought back, but she wasn't bound leading me up to
that is an excellent source of DNA. Why because whoever's
(29:17):
tying the knot has to pull the rope and it
goes across your hands if it is collected correctly and
at that time I mean touch DNA. The advent of
touch DNA has just been in the last couple of years.
Nobody knew about epithelial cells when Laura Lee was murdered.
That has just happened. That's a major advancement. But that
(29:40):
is an incredible source for DNA evidence.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Ryl it is and that's something Detective LeMay and I
have talked about to test and retest all the items
and Nancy.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
The other thing that is.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Pretty clear is because of the Lucia County, this evidence
was located and collected so quickly. You're talking about within
thirty minutes they had it. They saw her. And here's
the other thing about this killer. Yes, he came with
a loaded weapon and something to bind her with, but
(30:11):
he made no effort to conceal her body. So again
this leads me to think this person is young, they
were inexperienced in this type of crime, and I believe
his DNA will be on some of the items that
were left at.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
That saintle.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace to Sheriff Mike with special
guests joining us today elected Sheriff Felicia County Sheriff. Was
she sex assaulted this fifteen year old teen girl?
Speaker 11 (30:50):
She was, and we have again because of the great
work by the initial detectors, we have that DNA and
it has been I guess we've excluded probably fifth these
suspects based on that y star DNA that we have.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
So she was molested. I understand Cheryl McCollum that she
was partially nude.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Correct, That's my understanding.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So again, some of the clothing left owned her is
extremely interesting to me because I believe we can get
more DNA and maybe develop an entire profile from that.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Okay, what I'm getting at, Cheryl, I'm glad that she
was partially clothed. Why because there's a better chance of
me getting DNA off the clothes, if her pants were
yanked down, or sure it was ripped open, anything along
those lines, I'm getting more of a chance of getting DNA.
(31:48):
You know, some victims are forced to disrobe themselves. That's
not what happened here, because she was tied up. And
I want to apologize to Virginia Jenny at Basel. This
is Laura Lee's sister, who is haunted by this to
this day. We have launched into the only thing we
(32:08):
know how to do. This is all we're good for.
Jenny is analyzing facts, analyzing evidence, and building a case.
And you're sitting there hearing me talking about her being bound.
Was she partially clothed? Was she forced to disrobe herself
while you're thinking of your sister as one of the loves,
(32:29):
the great loves of your life. And I want to
apologize about the analytical way we're describing what happened. And
I hope you understand what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
No, No, I totally understand.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I want to talk about retesting, and I also want
to you know, so often we hear, oh, the cops
did this wrong, they did that wrong, the sheriff screwed
this up, blah blah, blah, and sometimes it's true, but
not in this case. If you only knew the immediate
rollout out, the canvassing, the aerial, the dogs, everything they
(33:05):
were on it. Listen.
Speaker 12 (33:06):
Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department joined Belusia County
Sheriffs to canvas Spears neighborhood for a week. Over one
thousand tips are collected in the month following Laura Lee's murder,
and police learn a group of people are hanging out
and shooting guns at the burned down home where the
body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark colored
truck near the crime scene.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Laura Lee's Spears family continues their fight to identify the
teen's killer. Police call for the public's help to solve
the case and bring a killer to justice.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Then there is what we think is going to be
a big break in the case. Listen.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Six months past and then a tip from an inmate
comes in claiming Bobby Rawley says he killed Laura Lee Spear. Raleigh,
twenty is a waiting trial for the double murder of
two West beallusihah men killed six weeks after spears death.
Raleigh also owns a dark colored truck matching the description
of the one spotted near the crime scene. Raley is
charged with the murder of Laura Lee Spear. He vehemently
(34:08):
denies involvement. Nearly three years in, Raley manages to produce
a solid alibi, receipts showing he was at a car
repair shop at the time of the murder. The chargers,
they're dropped, and the Lucia County Sheriffs are bank to
square one.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Jenny Massel, Laura Ley's sister. That had to be like
a gut punch. They think they've got the guy. They investigate, investigate,
and investigate. Three years pass and suddenly he has a
rock solid alibi. Why he didn't produce it earlier that
I don't know, but he did produce it, and after
(34:41):
three years of thinking the killer was caught, you find
out no, that's not him. That had to be horrible
for your family, right.
Speaker 10 (34:49):
It was like taking the window of our sales kind of.
We were very hopeful that.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
We had the.
Speaker 10 (34:59):
Guy, but then to be let down to say though, no,
it didn't work out. It was disheartening to say the least.
And then having to go back to square one to
try to figure out who it could potentially be now
your guard is up now because you think, oh I
(35:19):
can breathe, you know, because before you're always having to
look over your shoulder, or you know, is it this person?
Speaker 5 (35:27):
It?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Could it be that person?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I mean we're still living in that and that fear
of who could it be?
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
That has got to be complete. Hell that every time
you get to the local grocery store you look at
a guy and think, well, was it you? Were you
the one watching my sister? Did you sex assault and
murder her? Did you bind my sister and leave her
lying out in the open? That way? I would be
(35:56):
suspicious of everybody I saw you. Look at the preacher,
You'll go to church, custodian, the school, custodian, the neighbors.
Everybody is under a cloud of suspicion. But today Sheriff
Mike Chitwood has a major announcement for us. He is
not sitting back and just reviewing case files. He's doing
(36:19):
something about it. Sheriff Chitwood, could you describe the new
reward that you are announcing? I kind, Nancy.
Speaker 11 (36:28):
Today would have been Laura Lee's forty six birthday.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
It's thirty years since this horrific brutal sexual assault and
execution occurred to this young lady and that finally was destroyed.
We are offering one hundred thousand dollars reward for information
leading to the arrest of persons or persons who were
responsible for this horrific act.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
You know, Sheriff, that is amazing. Number one, that you
and Detective le May are still working this case. You
want justice, but somehow you have managed to raise one
hundred thousand dollars to finish this investigation. That never happened, Sheriff.
(37:13):
That never happens. Most cases have no reward at all,
nothing much less one hundred thousand dollars reward. That's amazing, Nancy.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
We don't know what else to do.
Speaker 11 (37:24):
The detectives throughout the decades have poured their heart and
soul into this case. Detective de LeMay even was up
in Philadelphia with the Ydox Society going through this case
with dozens and dozens of cold case investigators.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
We have to do something.
Speaker 11 (37:38):
As you said, this whole segment, people knew, people know
this was not this was This was not something that
happened in the strange. It was not something that was
a spur of the moment it was planned. People know
they need to do the right thing now for Laura
Lee and for her family.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
The hunt continues for Laura Lee's spears killer. Could a
jailhouse confession be the key to closing this cold case?
Speaker 14 (38:06):
Every day now day goes by that I don't think
about her. Always wonder what she would think of her
Christmas or Thanksgiving, her birthday. Always wonder where's she'll be
at if things were different, if somebody had just left
her alone that day and let her live, what life
(38:30):
would be like with her here. I'm sure it had
been a lot happier.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
You are hearing sister Jenny Bissell, who to this day
is haunted by her sister's kidnap, assault, and murder just
two hundred yards less than two hundred yards from the
bus stop. Cheryl McCollum, I want to talk about retesting
this DNA. How can we make that happen? In addition
(38:57):
to this incredible, incredible reward, the sheriff has cobbled together
Sheriff Chitwood and Detective La May announcing today a one
hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to solving Laura
Lee's murder. What about retesting.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Cheryl McCollum, you know, the detective Lamy and I have
already talked about getting perhaps her broad essentially to a
private lab like OUTHRAM. It's going to be critical that
they retest everything, even if something's already been tested. The
technology today is nothing compared to what they could do
in nineteen ninety four. They can do things now that
(39:38):
would have been unheard of. Author only needs six sales
to get a full, you know, profile of a suspect.
We've got to get everything to this as soon as
we can. And I'll tell you, Nancy what I just
heard the sheriff say. There is one hundred thousand reasons
for somebody to come forward and.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
To Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the Lucia CA On the elected
sheriff who's announcing one hundred thousand dollar reward to solve
this case. Sheriff, the perp may not have been in
the database at the time Laurelle was murdered, but I
guarantee you this guy didn't commit a one time sex assault, kidnapped, murder,
(40:22):
no way. He had to have done something else, some
violent crime. Since Laurelle was murdered, he should be in
the database. Now, would you agree with that? This ain't
a one off?
Speaker 11 (40:35):
Yeah, I absolutely one percent agree with that. And you
know he did it, he got away with it. This
is something I believe was in his DNA. There are
other probably sexual assault victims or homicide victims out there
related to this guy.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
We've got to get this DNA to off Ram Labs
or a similar lab that handles UH degenerated or degraded
DNA or old DNA. It's a specialty Niche to Virginia
Jenny Bissell, this is Laura Lee's sister. What is your
(41:09):
message today? To whomever you want it to be heard,
wherever you want it to be heard. It can be
to DeSantis, the governor. It can be to Moody, the
Florida Attorney General. It can be to the public. What
is your message?
Speaker 10 (41:28):
My message would be that Larley needs justice, our family
needs to find peace, and on top of that, laar
Leine needs to rest in peace. We need to find
her killer and we need to do by whatever means
(41:52):
necessary to find it. And the fact that someday has
been quiet for this long.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Unacceptable. You can run, you can hide, but we'll catch
up to you. I'm not giving up.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
And it's not just the purp Jenny. It could be
the mom who washed bloody clothes. It could be the
dad who realized his teen had taken the family gun
that day. It could be a number of people. Someone
may be the purp bragg to or new too much
information and talked about it, or asked too many questions,
(42:31):
or followed the case in an odd or obsessive way.
Someone knows the answer to this riddle who killed Laura Lee.
If you know or even think you know any information
about Laura Lee's kidnapped from the school bus and murder,
dial three eight six two five, four five three seven.
(42:55):
There is a new one hundred thousand dollars rewards to
share of Mike Chitwood. Thank you to our guests for
being with us. Thank you to you for joining us here,
but especially to Jenny Bissell, who tells the story of
her sister's murder. Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young cheerleader just
fifteen years old, kidnapped then murdered straight off the school
bus in broad daylight. Who killed Laura Lee? Good evening,
(00:21):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
being with us. The tragic slaying of a young fifteen
year old girl haunts a small Florida town. Kidnapped from
her school bus and shot dead. Who killed Laura Lee's spear?
This rural area Deerfoot Road had been insulated from crime
(00:45):
in fear since his inception for decades until this beautiful
young girl. And I've got to tell you, this girl
was everybody's dream. She sang in the church choir shoes
with the keynotes, beautiful voice, straight a's cheerleader, you name it.
(01:09):
This girl was it, the it girl. So how is
it that she steps off her bus, her school bus,
a public school bus with all the other children, and
within minutes she's gone. First of all, take a listen
to this.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Don't you even to stay.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
In the end?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I don't know what something, Laarlie? What's what's your birthday?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Jean Paper's name set?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
How do you feel anything?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The car.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
That one's word.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yes, I need the first department.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What's the problem.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
My daughter got off the box.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
The job on left her card.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Get off the bus, my neighbor's car. Get off the
bus and start down the road. It's seven tenths of
a mile to our own. You've always like clockwork at
home at three thirty, my child is not at home.
Speaker 7 (02:14):
List okay, how old is she?
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Fifteen years old?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
You can hear a mom's voice starting to crack there
at the end. She calls nine to one one to
report her child missing, her little girl missing within the hour,
within the hour of her stepping off that bus, doing
everything right? How can nobody see anything? Nobody hears, nobody knows,
(02:39):
nobody tells anything about the disappearance and the murder of
Laura Lee. Listen to more of that nine to one
one call.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
How long has she been missing?
Speaker 5 (02:50):
So got a little left to three this afternoon? I
would say approximately between three ten and three fifteen.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
The sets to glass of come.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Okay, where's your bus?
Speaker 9 (03:07):
Stout?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
Her boss stop is at Wing Garden Road and dem
Foot Row. We live on dem Foot Row.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You're hearing moms staying calm, cool and collected that she
gives the information to nine one one, but I can
hear her voice cracking with me at All Star Pedel
to make sense of what we know right now. I
always like to start with a nine one one call,
as I do when prosecuting a case, because it's unlike
anything else. It's not a witness telling a jury what
(03:35):
happened through their own vision, through their own glasses. It's
what did happen in the moment. And we learn so
much again with Me at All Star Pedel. But first
two special guests Virginia Jenny Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister, Jenny.
(03:56):
Thank you for being with us, Thank you for having me.
Can you remember day that Laura Lee went missing?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Definitely, it's hard to forget. Well. I remember.
Speaker 10 (04:12):
Getting off the school bus that day and walking down
the road, and typically what I do is I just
look at the footprints in the in the on our
dirt road, just to see It's kind of it was
a game that I would use to play where I
would try to figure out Larley's outfit because she would
(04:32):
always walk right before I would. Because I was in
middle and she was in high school, and I saw
that there was multiple sets of footprints, and so I
figured that my mom walked up to the bus stop
to come get her, which was not uncommon. And as
I made my weight down, I encountered one of my
(04:55):
neighbors that told me that I really need My mom
had been looking for me and she didn't know where
I was, which I thought was odd because it was.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
My normal time.
Speaker 10 (05:06):
And so I hurried home to find her on the
phone with the Sheriff's department, and she was in hysterics
at that point, and she was asking me to check
the house, go upstairs to check her room to see
if she was there, and maybe she had missed her,
like she may have taken a nap or something and
she just didn't hear her come in. So I went
(05:28):
and I looked, and I couldn't find her, and I
relead the information to my mom, and shortly thereafter we
had a deputy come to the house to assist. Then,
I want to say a few hours later, maybe time
(05:49):
kind of stood still, we had a chaplain come to
the house. I didn't know at the time why.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
But.
Speaker 10 (06:05):
When he related the information to my parents, that had
to be the hardest thing to watch. At first, I thought, oh,
she's hurt, she's somewhere, she's at the hospital. We'll go
and get her. I think goes in shock, but then
(06:34):
realizing that she wasn't going to come home. That's what
it hit hard.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
When Ginny did you discover that she had been killed?
Speaker 10 (06:46):
At that time, when the chapelain came and my mom
was in hysterics when he told her the news.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
When you say his Derek's what do you mean, she.
Speaker 10 (07:05):
Was crying and yelling out, my baby, think they killed
my baby.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Guys with me is Jenny Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister,
recounting the moment a chaplain showed up at their home
to tell them laure Lee wasn't just missing, she was
dead and someone had killed her. In addition to Virginia
(07:35):
Jenny Bissell is Sheriff Mike Chitwood from the Vlusha County
Sheriff's Office and Detective Cordell LeMay. Gentlemen, thank you for
being with us, along with Cheryl McCollum and Alexis Terreschuk.
To Sheriff Chitwood, I want to thank you gentlemen so
much for being with us. Sheriff. I've seen that over
(07:58):
and over and it happened to me as well when
I became a victim of violent crime. The families trying
to think of any alternative other than she's dead and
someone killed her. We just heard Jimmy stating, Oh, well,
she's at the hospital, we can go get her. Are
we're going to fix it or she's going to be okay,
(08:20):
And then that moment when they're told, for instance, in
this case, this child is never coming home and that
someone killed her.
Speaker 10 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (08:32):
I think Jinny hit it right on the head when
she said that she was in shock and it doesn't
sink in the finality of what has occurred. And I
think most crime victims, you know, they leave the room
of their loved one intact the way it was the
last time they sold them forever because that losing a
(08:53):
loved one and having that piece of you cut out,
there's no way that's ever going to get put back there.
It's never going to come back, and you kind of
disassociate yourself from the reality of it because you don't
want to believe that this actually happened.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
To understand a kidnap murder, to begin to even try
to solve it, you have to understand who is your
victim listens, Laura.
Speaker 7 (09:18):
Lee Spear, fifteen in her freshman year at DeLand High School,
is over the moon to learn she's made Junior varsity
cheer squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy, piano lessons,
church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keiettes, a school
service organization. David and Barbara Spear are immensely proud of
their model student, and Laura Lee's punctuality and stellar grades
(09:39):
make her a great role model for her younger sister, Jenny.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace straight out to another special
guest joining us attadive Cordell LeMay, Major case homicide detective
in Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Detective, thank you for being
with us. I also think, detective, that the start the
(10:11):
harsh dichotomy, the trying to get your mind around the
fact that you just saw your daughter a couple of
hours ago when she left to go to school, and
everything was fine. I've heard that phrase one hundred times
from crime victim's families. Everything was fine, and then suddenly
(10:33):
they learn not only is the little girl dead, kidnapped
off the school bus after she takes a few steps
from a school bus, but that someone killed her. It
wasn't a car accident, it wasn't some other type of mishap.
Someone actually targeted a little teen cheerleader getting off the
(10:53):
school bus and murdered her.
Speaker 8 (10:56):
Yeah, just to look at the facts of the case
like that, it's it's horrible, obscene even and it's a
it's a terrible situation. You have Laurley Spear here, fifteen
year old girl, like you said, a model student, a
model daughter, and she's a true victim. Didn't have a
(11:22):
bad bone in her body, just minding her own business,
going about her life getting off the school bus. From
what I understand, she wanted to be a doctor, I
think a veterinarian when she grew up, and that all
that was taken away from her, she never got that chance.
All that was taken away from her family by some
(11:46):
you know, awful person out there that probably got most
likely free, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
And knowing the entire time that he and I guarantee you,
of course I'm not an eyewitness, but it is a
he knowing he has little really gotten away with the murder.
Well not if we have anything to do it. Let's
go back to the moment that Mom realizes Laura Lee
(12:11):
is not coming home. She hasn't made it home off
that school bus.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
And she was.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Very, very punctual. We hear that throughout. She doesn't go
meander around the neighborhood. She doesn't go to a friend's
house without telling mom. Nothing like that. No trips to
the mall after school. She walked straight home. That's how
Mom knew in her core that something was horribly wrong.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
Listen, start walking home, Yeah, my neighborhood. Start down the road.
Speaker 9 (12:41):
Start walking towards the house.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
And she's not today neighbor's house or anything we have.
You know, if you're checking the.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Neighbors, call all the neighbors, they all say that.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Well, but.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
May said the next compty not fear at their house.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
Okay, hold on one second.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Okay, So she got on about three three fifteen. He
got off the books for approximately three tens of Previousteen, okay,
hold lot of seconds.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Joining me In addition to Laurlee's sister Jenny Bissell, Detective LeMay,
and Sheriff Chitwood, Cheryl McCollum is joining US forensics expert,
the founder of the Cold Case Research Institute and star
of a hit podcast Zone seven. Cheryl, thank you for
being with us. You and I have seen a lot
of missing person cases. We've seen a lot of homicide
(13:36):
cases as a matter of fact, the last seven to
eight years, and the District Attorney's office I handled strictly
and exclusively murder, serial murder, cerial rape, cyril child, mola
station and any type of arson. So we have certainly
seen a lot of cases. But a child getting kidnapped
(13:59):
and murder straight off the school bus, and of course
everybody looks at the school bus driver. It wasn't the
school bus driver. The driver just kept going with the children,
was still driving the bus by the time that Laurale's
body was found. Cheryl, here is a stark and jarring
(14:21):
statistic that I learned from Mark Class Victims' Rights Champion.
Over well over thirty percent of child strangers stranger abductions
occur on a school route, going to school, walking to school,
walking to the bus, coming back home, getting off the bus,
(14:42):
drop off, pickup. That right there, and that should shake
the shoulders of everybody in Congress if they could look
up for their money making ventures and realize that that's
where money needs to go in policing, school bus trouts,
school bus stops, school buses. But that's a whole nother
(15:04):
can of worms. Let me get back to something that
I can actually affect, and that is finding Laura Lee's killer.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Jump in Nancy from where the bus dropped her off
the walk to her home. When I walked the scene
and drove it with Detective le May, what leaped out
at me is from where she was dropped off to
the crime scene, she literally had to pass her house.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
This person in broad daylight.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Knew a remote location of a house that had been
burned down a year before half law Lee's home to
drive her to that location. So to me, that tells
me this killer was familiar with that area.
Speaker 12 (15:53):
Spears daily routine is to walk home from her bus
stop on the corner of Deerfoot Road out Spring Garden.
The one half mile walk usually takes about ten minutes.
Laura Lee always meets her mother at home by three
point thirty, even if she stops to watch the neighbor's horses.
When laur Lee is a half an hour late, Barbara
Spear calls nine to one one in a panic, reporting
(16:16):
her daughter missing.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
Laura Lee's Spear only fifteen years old, abducted, shot just
yards away from her home. Her body found in a
burned down, abandoned house.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I've been listening very carefully to all the nine one
one calls, and I want you to hear something that
is integral and every parent should know this. Listen.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Could I'd come back out and look she would be
carrying or she would have had the room her.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Back back back.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, okay, Mom knows exactly what Laura Lee is wearing.
She can describe the backpack. I can describe my children's shoes,
their socks, what they're wearing. The works eggsists exactly every day.
I know my children wore today and summer break. Did
(17:08):
you hear the mom? She is that attentive to her
child that she knows exactly what Laura Lee's even her
backpack looks like joining me in All Star panel, But
I want to go back to Laurreley's sister, Virginia Jenny
Bissell and speaking to Jenny. As I have discovered with
so many other crime victims of violent crime, it never
(17:32):
goes away. It's always just beneath the surface and anything
much less somebody asking you a direct question about it,
anything can trigger it. It never goes away. Would you
agree with that, Jenny.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That's absolutely correct.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
How that affected your life? What makes you remember, Like
in the middle of a day, You'll be having a
perfectly fine day and all of a sudden, somebody brings
it up up or something reminds you. What triggers that
Laura Le's the memory of Laura Lee's disappearance and murder.
Speaker 10 (18:08):
Anything can really trigger a memory, like just going about
my day, or even like talking.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
To my parents.
Speaker 10 (18:22):
It's it can be anything, to be quite honest, like
even hearing a song from back in the day. It's
it can be a multitude of things. Even driving around
town because I still live in DeLand and stay close
to my parents, So just even driving to the house
because they still live in the same house, so taking
(18:46):
that road every day, it just reminds me.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
I understand, your parents, particularly your mom has never quote
gotten over Laura Lee's murder.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Right, Yeah, It's significantly impacted her.
Speaker 10 (19:05):
All of our lives really, but definitely for her, she
feels the guilt.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I think it's survivor's guilt for.
Speaker 10 (19:14):
Us because for me, just walking down knowing that I
took the same step so she did that same day
and thinking why her it should have been me, you know,
like I wish it was me, you know, I mean,
those thoughts happened a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
One thing I know is that the moment that nine
on one call was made, Ellie, law enforcement jumped into
action Lessen.
Speaker 7 (19:41):
Just sixteen minutes after Barbara Spear reports fifteen year old
Laura Lee missing, the Lucia County Sheriffs are on the
ground searching for the teen. Air one the Sheriff's helicopter
is already in the air and begins scanning the neighborhood
for Laura Lee. At five point thirty five pm, the
pilot spots a body lying behind an abandoned home, while
from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laura
(20:03):
Lee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the
burned out home, shot to.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Death and shot multiple times. This girl, this teen cheerleader,
an honor student, shot multiple times, her body only spotted
by helicopter flying over. It was so far back in
a burned out home that only a local would have
(20:29):
known about. In addition to our all star panel, including
laur Lee's sister, Jenny, Alexis Terschak is joining us investigative
reporter crimeonline dot Com Alexis, thank you for being with us.
For those just joining us, give me a recap about
how Laura Lee went missing that afternoon.
Speaker 13 (20:49):
So Laurlee, fifteen years old, freshman in high school, gets
off her school list. She lives kind of on a
whirl road. This is Florida, in DeLand, Florida. It's a
little bit east in a little bit south of dayt
Ti a beach, very leafy. This isn't right on the water.
And she normally walks home less than a mile point
seven tenths of a mile takes her about ten minutes.
She walks every single day. She comes home from the
(21:12):
school on the school bus. She does not arrive at home.
She gets off the bus between three and three fifteen pm.
She is always home by three thirty. The neighbors in
between the school bus and her house they have horses.
She loves to stop there and look at the horses
and then we'll make her way home. So she does
not arrive at home, and her mom panics. She starts
(21:33):
calling around. She calls her friend. The friend says, nope,
I saw her get off the bus. She calls the
neighbor the next do her neighbor. There's one house between them.
The neighbor says, no, she is not here, and then
the mom calls the police immediately, right away, doesn't wait
two hours, doesn't think, well, maybe she stayed at school
or a friend picked her up or anything. Because this
(21:55):
girl is so punctual. She's a straight A student. She
just made the JV cheerly squad. She volunteers at school.
She never give she as you can see, she plays
the piano. She does everything by the book. So her
mom knew immediately that something was wrong.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Exactly how was Laureley found tilled, because, as we all know,
details matter.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
Laura at least Spear is found lying in a pool
of her own blood, shot in the back of the
head three times. Spear's hands had been tied together, and
much of her clothing is missing or torn away. Spear
has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she
was beaten. It appears Spears's attacker attempted to sexually assault her,
(22:40):
and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants
of Spear's clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in
the days after her death, The tragic slaying of a
young fifteen year old girl haunts a small Florida town.
Kidnapped from her school bus and shot dead. Who killed
La relieve spear what clues were left behind?
Speaker 7 (23:05):
Listen immediately after Laura Lee's spear has found shot. It's
all hands on deck to find out what happened to
the teen in her short walk home from the bus.
Detectives believe Laura Lee only made it about two hundred
yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted.
They estimate Laura Lee was dead within twenty five minutes
of getting off the bus. The bus driver says, nothing
seemed out of the ordinary as you watched Laura Lee
(23:27):
start her walk home, and a small group of people
selling plans along the route also don't recall seeing anything
or anyone suspicious as Laura Lee passed by.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
To Cheryl McCollum, a forensics expert who has personally investigated
this case as well, along with Sheriff Chipwood and Detective
le May, Cheryl, two hundred yards, it's all over in
two hundred yards. That tells me the purp had to
be in a vehicle, who would know about that area
and that burned out house other than a local. The
(23:57):
house was not right on the street. And it all
happened within two hundred yards that's not even a football field.
That also tells me this was not just a crime
of opportunity. Somebody knew about that bus stop. Somebody had
targeted Laura Lee. That opens me up to who. Okay,
(24:17):
I know where mom and dad are, so they can
be ruled out, But who had seen her at one
of the games where she was a cheerleader, Who had
seen her at some of her many activities she took
part in, of course, And you've got to look at
those closest to her. Although I mentioned the parents have
(24:37):
been ruled out, but beyond that, you've got to look
at uncles. You've got to look at family. Somebody that
knew she was getting off that bus stop. Then what
do you make of just two hundred yard Cheryld Nancy?
Speaker 4 (24:52):
You make bus stops. They are a pattern built in
for kidnappers. They know exactly when that bus is going
to be at the intersection, and they don't have to
follow it more than one day to know that only
one student gets off there from the high school.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
I believe this person is local.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I believe they did know her in some way, and
I absolutely know they knew that area, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Well, I mean, Cheryl, I don't disagree with you, but
that's just a bald assertion. Explain why again.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
That house is way off the road, it had been
burned out a year before. Local teenagers went there to
drink and smoke pot and hang out.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
It's a very narrow group that would know.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
That house, be familiar with that house, know that Laura
Lee would get off the bus by herself, be able
to grab her, control her, because they did have a firearm,
drive her to the house, tie her up, assault her,
get rid of her book bag, and drive away.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
This was very fast. This was not a long drawn
out crime by any means.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
To Sheriff Mike Shipwood, the elected sheriff in Volusia County Sheriff,
thank you for being with us. Listening to Cheryl speak,
it jumps out at me that if this was a
teen hangout, then a natural assumption, not a leap of logic,
would be that a teen, an older teen did this.
(26:18):
And of course we know the killers typically not always,
but typically kill within their own race. That tells me
I'm looking at a white male between I know we
can drive between sixteen and to really push it, I
go to twenty five to twenty nine max. What do
(26:39):
you make of that?
Speaker 11 (26:40):
That's exactly what the investigators focused on in the yearly goings.
You know, this killer brought a firearm, and the killer
brought a ligature to be able to fasten her hands
together and tie her up. And again, as everybody keeps saying,
this burned down house, when you if you go see
the topography, you don't know about that unless you're from
(27:01):
that area. You're back there drinking, you're back there smoking weed.
It's got to be somebody that can drive. It's somebody
that's familiar with the comings and goings there, And that's
what the investigation has focused on through all of these years.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And it's somebody to detective of Cordell Lea May. It's
somebody that's not at work in the middle of the
day that strikes me. I grew up in one of
those homes where everybody either went to school or they
went to work, and nobody ever laid out. Nobody even
dared say, ooh, I feel bad today. No, everybody goes
(27:33):
to work. And I walked home every day from school
on a dirt road, just like Jenny is describing where
crime nobody ever even heard of it, just like around
the time when she Laura Lee goes missing. Hey, Detective
le May, I'm curious about the ligature, and the Sheriff's
(27:58):
brought up a really good point. This person came prepared,
they had ligatures, they had a gun, they were in
a vehicle, they wanted at work, and they knew about
this hideout and this old burned out house where tane smoked.
And did pot So question what type of ligatures were used?
Speaker 8 (28:16):
So it's it was.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It was rope.
Speaker 8 (28:18):
It was a thin rope like twine almost, and it
was loosely tied around her wrists. So it's not like
this person was, you know, an expert or you know,
a boy scout or something like that where they were
familiar with tighten note knots. I was looped around a
couple of times, not super tight, but uh, you know,
(28:39):
it was enough to bind her hands and keep keep
her from using them. And you know, unless at some
point during during what happened, she managed to loosen up
herself and for herself a little bit, there's no way
to know that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You know Sherylan colem Based on what Detective Cordell Lea
May just said, it may not have required tight buying.
If she had taken a blow to the face or
any attack at all, I doubt that she could have
fought back, but she wasn't bound leading me up to
that is an excellent source of DNA. Why because whoever's
(29:17):
tying the knot has to pull the rope and it
goes across your hands if it is collected correctly and
at that time I mean touch DNA. The advent of
touch DNA has just been in the last couple of years.
Nobody knew about epithelial cells when Laura Lee was murdered.
That has just happened. That's a major advancement. But that
(29:40):
is an incredible source for DNA evidence.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Ryl it is and that's something Detective LeMay and I
have talked about to test and retest all the items
and Nancy.
Speaker 9 (29:50):
The other thing that is.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Pretty clear is because of the Lucia County, this evidence
was located and collected so quickly. You're talking about within
thirty minutes they had it. They saw her. And here's
the other thing about this killer. Yes, he came with
a loaded weapon and something to bind her with, but
(30:11):
he made no effort to conceal her body. So again
this leads me to think this person is young, they
were inexperienced in this type of crime, and I believe
his DNA will be on some of the items that
were left at.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
That saintle.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace to Sheriff Mike with special
guests joining us today elected Sheriff Felicia County Sheriff. Was
she sex assaulted this fifteen year old teen girl?
Speaker 11 (30:50):
She was, and we have again because of the great
work by the initial detectors, we have that DNA and
it has been I guess we've excluded probably fifth these
suspects based on that y star DNA that we have.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
So she was molested. I understand Cheryl McCollum that she
was partially nude.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Correct, That's my understanding.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
So again, some of the clothing left owned her is
extremely interesting to me because I believe we can get
more DNA and maybe develop an entire profile from that.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Okay, what I'm getting at, Cheryl, I'm glad that she
was partially clothed. Why because there's a better chance of
me getting DNA off the clothes, if her pants were
yanked down, or sure it was ripped open, anything along
those lines, I'm getting more of a chance of getting DNA.
(31:48):
You know, some victims are forced to disrobe themselves. That's
not what happened here, because she was tied up. And
I want to apologize to Virginia Jenny at Basel. This
is Laura Lee's sister, who is haunted by this to
this day. We have launched into the only thing we
(32:08):
know how to do. This is all we're good for.
Jenny is analyzing facts, analyzing evidence, and building a case.
And you're sitting there hearing me talking about her being bound.
Was she partially clothed? Was she forced to disrobe herself
while you're thinking of your sister as one of the loves,
(32:29):
the great loves of your life. And I want to
apologize about the analytical way we're describing what happened. And
I hope you understand what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
No, No, I totally understand.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I want to talk about retesting, and I also want
to you know, so often we hear, oh, the cops
did this wrong, they did that wrong, the sheriff screwed
this up, blah blah, blah, and sometimes it's true, but
not in this case. If you only knew the immediate
rollout out, the canvassing, the aerial, the dogs, everything they
(33:05):
were on it. Listen.
Speaker 12 (33:06):
Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department joined Belusia County
Sheriffs to canvas Spears neighborhood for a week. Over one
thousand tips are collected in the month following Laura Lee's murder,
and police learn a group of people are hanging out
and shooting guns at the burned down home where the
body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark colored
truck near the crime scene.
Speaker 6 (33:29):
Laura Lee's Spears family continues their fight to identify the
teen's killer. Police call for the public's help to solve
the case and bring a killer to justice.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Then there is what we think is going to be
a big break in the case. Listen.
Speaker 7 (33:47):
Six months past and then a tip from an inmate
comes in claiming Bobby Rawley says he killed Laura Lee Spear. Raleigh,
twenty is a waiting trial for the double murder of
two West beallusihah men killed six weeks after spears death.
Raleigh also owns a dark colored truck matching the description
of the one spotted near the crime scene. Raley is
charged with the murder of Laura Lee Spear. He vehemently
(34:08):
denies involvement. Nearly three years in, Raley manages to produce
a solid alibi, receipts showing he was at a car
repair shop at the time of the murder. The chargers,
they're dropped, and the Lucia County Sheriffs are bank to
square one.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Jenny Massel, Laura Ley's sister. That had to be like
a gut punch. They think they've got the guy. They investigate, investigate,
and investigate. Three years pass and suddenly he has a
rock solid alibi. Why he didn't produce it earlier that
I don't know, but he did produce it, and after
(34:41):
three years of thinking the killer was caught, you find
out no, that's not him. That had to be horrible
for your family, right.
Speaker 10 (34:49):
It was like taking the window of our sales kind of.
We were very hopeful that.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
We had the.
Speaker 10 (34:59):
Guy, but then to be let down to say though, no,
it didn't work out. It was disheartening to say the least.
And then having to go back to square one to
try to figure out who it could potentially be now
your guard is up now because you think, oh I
(35:19):
can breathe, you know, because before you're always having to
look over your shoulder, or you know, is it this person?
Speaker 5 (35:27):
It?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Could it be that person?
Speaker 1 (35:29):
You know?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I mean we're still living in that and that fear
of who could it be?
Speaker 5 (35:35):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
That has got to be complete. Hell that every time
you get to the local grocery store you look at
a guy and think, well, was it you? Were you
the one watching my sister? Did you sex assault and
murder her? Did you bind my sister and leave her
lying out in the open? That way? I would be
(35:56):
suspicious of everybody I saw you. Look at the preacher,
You'll go to church, custodian, the school, custodian, the neighbors.
Everybody is under a cloud of suspicion. But today Sheriff
Mike Chitwood has a major announcement for us. He is
not sitting back and just reviewing case files. He's doing
(36:19):
something about it. Sheriff Chitwood, could you describe the new
reward that you are announcing? I kind, Nancy.
Speaker 11 (36:28):
Today would have been Laura Lee's forty six birthday.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
It's thirty years since this horrific brutal sexual assault and
execution occurred to this young lady and that finally was destroyed.
We are offering one hundred thousand dollars reward for information
leading to the arrest of persons or persons who were
responsible for this horrific act.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
You know, Sheriff, that is amazing. Number one, that you
and Detective le May are still working this case. You
want justice, but somehow you have managed to raise one
hundred thousand dollars to finish this investigation. That never happened, Sheriff.
(37:13):
That never happens. Most cases have no reward at all,
nothing much less one hundred thousand dollars reward. That's amazing, Nancy.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
We don't know what else to do.
Speaker 11 (37:24):
The detectives throughout the decades have poured their heart and
soul into this case. Detective de LeMay even was up
in Philadelphia with the Ydox Society going through this case
with dozens and dozens of cold case investigators.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
We have to do something.
Speaker 11 (37:38):
As you said, this whole segment, people knew, people know
this was not this was This was not something that
happened in the strange. It was not something that was
a spur of the moment it was planned. People know
they need to do the right thing now for Laura
Lee and for her family.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
The hunt continues for Laura Lee's spears killer. Could a
jailhouse confession be the key to closing this cold case?
Speaker 14 (38:06):
Every day now day goes by that I don't think
about her. Always wonder what she would think of her
Christmas or Thanksgiving, her birthday. Always wonder where's she'll be
at if things were different, if somebody had just left
her alone that day and let her live, what life
(38:30):
would be like with her here. I'm sure it had
been a lot happier.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
You are hearing sister Jenny Bissell, who to this day
is haunted by her sister's kidnap, assault, and murder just
two hundred yards less than two hundred yards from the
bus stop. Cheryl McCollum, I want to talk about retesting
this DNA. How can we make that happen? In addition
(38:57):
to this incredible, incredible reward, the sheriff has cobbled together
Sheriff Chitwood and Detective La May announcing today a one
hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to solving Laura
Lee's murder. What about retesting.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Cheryl McCollum, you know, the detective Lamy and I have
already talked about getting perhaps her broad essentially to a
private lab like OUTHRAM. It's going to be critical that
they retest everything, even if something's already been tested. The
technology today is nothing compared to what they could do
in nineteen ninety four. They can do things now that
(39:38):
would have been unheard of. Author only needs six sales
to get a full, you know, profile of a suspect.
We've got to get everything to this as soon as
we can. And I'll tell you, Nancy what I just
heard the sheriff say. There is one hundred thousand reasons
for somebody to come forward and.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
To Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the Lucia CA On the elected
sheriff who's announcing one hundred thousand dollar reward to solve
this case. Sheriff, the perp may not have been in
the database at the time Laurelle was murdered, but I
guarantee you this guy didn't commit a one time sex assault, kidnapped, murder,
(40:22):
no way. He had to have done something else, some
violent crime. Since Laurelle was murdered, he should be in
the database. Now, would you agree with that? This ain't
a one off?
Speaker 11 (40:35):
Yeah, I absolutely one percent agree with that. And you
know he did it, he got away with it. This
is something I believe was in his DNA. There are
other probably sexual assault victims or homicide victims out there
related to this guy.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
We've got to get this DNA to off Ram Labs
or a similar lab that handles UH degenerated or degraded
DNA or old DNA. It's a specialty Niche to Virginia
Jenny Bissell, this is Laura Lee's sister. What is your
(41:09):
message today? To whomever you want it to be heard,
wherever you want it to be heard. It can be
to DeSantis, the governor. It can be to Moody, the
Florida Attorney General. It can be to the public. What
is your message?
Speaker 10 (41:28):
My message would be that Larley needs justice, our family
needs to find peace, and on top of that, laar
Leine needs to rest in peace. We need to find
her killer and we need to do by whatever means
(41:52):
necessary to find it. And the fact that someday has
been quiet for this long.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Unacceptable. You can run, you can hide, but we'll catch
up to you. I'm not giving up.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
And it's not just the purp Jenny. It could be
the mom who washed bloody clothes. It could be the
dad who realized his teen had taken the family gun
that day. It could be a number of people. Someone
may be the purp bragg to or new too much
information and talked about it, or asked too many questions,
(42:31):
or followed the case in an odd or obsessive way.
Someone knows the answer to this riddle who killed Laura Lee.
If you know or even think you know any information
about Laura Lee's kidnapped from the school bus and murder,
dial three eight six two five, four five three seven.
(42:55):
There is a new one hundred thousand dollars rewards to
share of Mike Chitwood. Thank you to our guests for
being with us. Thank you to you for joining us here,
but especially to Jenny Bissell, who tells the story of
her sister's murder. Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend.
Host
Nancy Grace
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