Dive into the chilling world of 'The Real Murders on Elm Street' as Season 2 continues to unravel perplexing cases. This episode delves deep into a new investigation, exploring the dark secrets and unexpected twists that lie beneath the surface. Join detectives as they piece together clues to bring justice to the victims.
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the-real-murders-on-elm-street true-crime mystery investigation crime-series elm-street-murders detective-show full-episode
#TrueCrime #Mystery #FullEpisode #CrimeSeries
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TVTranscript
00:00It was New Year's Eve,
00:27so there were still a lot of Christmas decorations up,
00:30and we were still in the holiday spirit.
00:34Everybody was celebrating.
00:37I had a two-month-old, and we were taking the opportunity
00:40to have a night out while my parents were watching my son.
00:45We went to the restaurant that I worked at.
00:48I remember having a good time.
00:52About 11 o'clock, somebody at the restaurant
00:54had said they heard over the scanner
00:56that there was a stabbing.
00:59We figured it was just some drunk idiot
01:02got in a fight and pulled out a knife,
01:05and we'll find out who it is later,
01:07because it's small town, Massachusetts.
01:09We're going to hear about it.
01:11But while we were heading home to my parents' house
01:15on Elm Street, we saw about five or six police cars
01:19on the road, which is not normal.
01:23I never thought that I would be sucked into this nightmare.
01:26I lost my wife and her son.
01:29They had the limit on all things,
01:32but it was very funny.
01:34I waszentmiARY quioped.
01:37However,
01:38it was technically on the road
01:40that they were there.
01:48Therefore,
01:50our family was still there.
01:52I was the
02:21on-call investigator so I was just at home with the family it was New Year's Eve and we were
02:29waiting for the ball to drop when I got that phone call I get a call from the Middleborough Police
02:41Department reporting an apparent homicide on Old Center Street in Middleborough Massachusetts
02:47residence is located in a very rural part of Middleborough it's across from a cranberry bog
02:56and it's surrounded by woods
02:58when I first arrived at the scene it was cold outside there had been a light snowfall
03:10there was an inch or less I was introduced to Mr. Gillen who had discovered his oldest daughter
03:17Tara inside of the den with stab wounds
03:20she was covered in blood
03:27when I first saw Tara you could immediately see the brutality that was involved in this crime
03:37it was overkill
03:40Tara was stabbed at least 21 times
03:4614 times in the upper back
03:54three times in the neck
03:59leaving a gaping injury
04:05Mr. Gillen was needless to say very upset
04:14but he was able to provide the details we needed
04:18Tara was 20 years old at the time she was a sophomore from Indiana University
04:26and was an English major and she was home for the Christmas break between semesters
04:33that evening December 31st was he and his wife's anniversary
04:42so they had chosen to make plans to go out for dinner to celebrate
04:46they had invited Tara to go with them but she had declined and chose to stay home
04:53they returned about 11 p.m. and as he pulled up the driveway he saw an open door
05:07he immediately ran into the house
05:09entered the den area which is right off of the kitchen
05:25and he saw his daughter Tara lying on her back
05:30naked from the waist down
05:31covered in blood with a gaping wound to her neck
05:40and she was unresponsive
05:45he approaches Tara
05:52he hears a noise out in this hot tub room that is adjacent to the den
05:56he immediately yelled out i'll kill you you bastard
06:10when he got out into that room there was nobody there
06:12but he felt a blast of cold air and that oriented him to realize that the window had been open
06:26he also heard noises in the woods that were consistent with somebody fleeing
06:33the breaking of branches the squashing of snow
06:35the footprints were leading away from his home
06:46mr gillen advised us that he located a blanket and he placed it over his daughter
06:56mr gillen remained by his daughter's side until the police arrived
07:00there's a person and as a parent and as the father of a daughter i just cannot imagine what that felt
07:09like to make that discovery neither then or frankly today how you would even
07:16go on and deal with that it's just tragic tragic
07:24with any homicide you look at various factors
07:28she could have been targeted by a spurred lover or boyfriend
07:32her pants and her underwear had been pulled down to the ankle area
07:39so you would assume that you may have a sexual assault involved as well
07:45did she have an old acquaintance that knew she was in town and
07:48maybe they knew that the parents went out and she was going to be alone
07:54it was very difficult to make a determination
07:57whether terror was targeted or if this was just a random crime
08:03december 31st 1996 old center street middleborough crime scene services middleborough videotaping
08:16as we entered the house things were tipped over it was just an absolute mess
08:20it could have been part of a burglary or somebody looking for valuables
08:27we noted a cigarette butt in the middle of the carpeted hallway of the upstairs portion of the house
08:32that was strange to us
08:36i inspected the area that mr gillen described from which he chased the assailant out of the house
08:45the room contained a hot tub there was a window that had opened up observations of that window indicated a forced exit
08:54and then we had a second set of matching shoe prints that went around the side of the house
09:06and then we had a second set of matching shoe prints that went around the side of the house
09:10the footwear impression had this wavy tread and it had a circle in the ball of the foot area
09:28we take photographs of the impression to give to investigating officers it was a tread patent that
09:36was to me easily recognizable as a casual sneaker it's virgin snow so this likely was from the assailant
09:45leaving the scene that's why that one shoot imprint impression is so important because it's just
09:50absolutely pristine so based on that information we began an initial tracking of the suspect
09:58there was no murder weapon discovered at the scene so one would have to believe that the suspect was
10:04still armed officers were looking for footprints in the snow the broken branches property that he might
10:13have stolen and discarded things that didn't belong there additionally a safe police helicopter was put
10:21in the air all patrols were on the lookout in this area and we had canines to find the
10:28assailant investigators had followed the trail starting where he exited through the broken window
10:39ultimately where they lost the trail in the cranberry block
10:48after seeing what he did to the victim i would say that there was a good possibility
10:54if he encountered someone he would repeat his actions
11:01was this killing personally given the brutality that was involved in this crime
11:07or was it just a total random act of violence someone who was out for blood
11:24we didn't know what we were up against with this killer who had fled the scene
11:31if he was bold enough to kill tara gillen on new year's eve he could do it again
11:35it was a heavy police presence cruises going up and down the streets there were helicopters up and canines
11:44living in a small town word travels very fast everywhere we went that's all everybody was talking about
11:51i didn't think that something like that would be possible just because of the atmosphere in our town being so peaceful
12:05a lot of time was spent with families and friends and cookouts and backyard parties and
12:10of course rooting for all the boston sports teams that might have been playing at the time
12:16it's a small town a lot of working people cranberry bogs middleboro would not be the type of town where
12:22you'd find a vicious murder one of the things that investigators will look at is the neighbors within the immediate area
12:31so when detectives were advised that there was a registered sex offender living in that home
12:38immediately behind the victim's house we raced to the house hoping that this could be the break we needed
12:50there's the belief that this person could have been watching her while she was home for the holidays
12:54stalking her watching her every move
13:06this was a slam dunk
13:14a sex offender living directly behind the victim
13:24but the resident advised them that the sexual offender was no longer there because he was currently incarcerated
13:43whenever you have an investigation or homicide your chances of solving it within the first 48 hours
13:56are 80 percent from there it begins to go down quickly with each ensuing day
14:03so you flood the neighborhood with investigators you're talking to neighbors you're talking to friends
14:09you're trying to get as much information as you can
14:14we were working down the street knocking on doors trying to get information when we were approached
14:21by a neighbor this neighbor advised detectives he found that door was open to his hayloft
14:37once detectives were told that the door to this hayloft was always kept shut
14:43they figured it would be a good thing to check it out to see if someone was possibly hiding up there
14:56one of the detectives was shown the open door by the owner of the property
15:00the detective went up into the loft to check it out
15:13but
15:13the detective went up into the loft to check it out
15:17I don't know.
15:47There was nothing.
16:01It was just full of cobwebs up on the hayloft.
16:04While detectives went to a house a few doors down from the scene of the crime, the resident
16:22stated that something odd did happen earlier in the week.
16:37She stated that when she was sleeping, she heard a noise.
16:50She pulled back the curtain, didn't see anything, and went back to sleep.
16:57But it did make her feel uncomfortable as she felt that someone could be watching her.
17:08This is a lead that had to be considered because the neighbor lived so close to the victim that
17:14it was a possibility that she could have been watched by the perpetrator.
17:18And he was just hunting for his perfect victim.
17:25The local detective was asked who in this neighborhood could be involved in something like this.
17:31The detective talked about one individual who, in the past, had committed some vandalism.
17:36It was a rumor, although never confirmed, that he actually pulled a knife out on his parents
17:44at some particular point in time.
17:46That individual lived approximately a mile away from the Gillen's.
17:54And to our amazement, shoe prints at the crime scene
17:58matched a different set of shoe prints found close to this kid's house.
18:07One of the things that I do is footwear comparisons between shoes and impressions left behind of the scene.
18:14My goal is to identify the shoe, not only the manufacturer, but the actual model of the shoe.
18:22In this particular case, it was made by Puma, which is an athletic shoe company.
18:28I contacted the factory, and ironically, it was located here in Massachusetts.
18:36So right away, they were able to get back to me and said,
18:39Hey, listen, this was a very unique shoe.
18:43This is a prototype.
18:44This didn't even make production.
18:46There's one shoe.
18:47There's one killer.
18:49Find the shoe.
18:50Find the killer.
18:59During those initial hours of that search for Tara's killer,
19:04we learned about a young man, Jonas Fell.
19:09This is a kid that, according to the police, it had repeated interactions with.
19:15He was well known to them, and he lived less than a mile from Tara Gillen.
19:21We had shoe prints at the crime scene that matched shoe prints that brought us nearly to the Fell House,
19:28in that direction, and very close to it.
19:31When detectives hear that type of information, right away, they perk up.
19:36Here we have a troubled kid.
19:38The vandalism, potentially, rumor that he's pulled a knife.
19:42And here we have a stabbing that's occurred to Tara.
19:49We decided to immediately go over to this individual's house and conduct an interview.
19:56As we arrived at that house, it was early morning.
20:01It was obvious that a party had taken place the evening before.
20:05Evidence of bottles and cans from a get-together.
20:07During an interview with Mr. Fell, Jonas' father, we learned that his son had hosted a New Year's Eve party
20:18at the house in the basement the night before.
20:22As far as he knew, it was just a regular party with the kids.
20:28He had said that he, the father, had gone out the night before with his wife.
20:32They ultimately come home around 9 o'clock or so, and they found Jonas at the house.
20:39And there was nothing out of sorts or caused any reason for concern by him.
20:45Jonas had stayed there the entire time.
20:51But one of the things investigators still had questions about was,
20:54did Jonas pull a knife out on them at any particular time at all?
21:02He told them that that was just a rumor that was going around the town.
21:05It had never happened.
21:10So in following the footprints from the Gillen house to Jonas' house,
21:15we had to be concerned with the fact that the killer could be one of the partygoers.
21:22Could the assailant be somewhere in the neighborhood, perhaps even watching us?
21:28We just didn't know.
21:32What we were told is this group of individuals met up at the local McDonald's.
21:40They got together around the 7 o'clock hour and then returned to Jonas' house
21:44for a planned New Year's Eve party.
21:51We know from our interviews that these partygoers drank beer.
21:56They had Goldschlager.
21:57That they played the games that these youngsters would play in terms of drinking games.
22:01But nothing ever got out of hand.
22:05We stopped by the party around 9.
22:16It was pretty early on in the night because we had plans to go out afterwards.
22:20There was about 20 or so kids there when we stopped there.
22:27Jonas was a friend of my brother's.
22:29It was more so my brother's group of friends.
22:33It seemed like they were having fun.
22:34Everybody was in good spirits.
22:37But it was just a crowded group of younger kids.
22:41So we left.
22:41I absolutely did not think anything that was going on was when you should want to roll.
22:54During the course of talking with these partygoers, a common theme started to develop.
23:00Several individuals indicated.
23:03One particular individual got into an argument and ended up leaving the party early.
23:08This individual was intimately involved with his girlfriend at the party.
23:18And at some point in time before he finished, she went to use the restroom and then never returned.
23:25So he became upset at that.
23:27And this is around the time that that altercation or that verbal confrontation occurred.
23:42So whether he was upset and got into it with his girlfriend or just was being an ass because he was upset,
23:49it was not clear to us, but he was asked to leave the party by Jonas.
23:52So he left the house upset.
23:59His girlfriend went with him trying to talk him into coming back to the party, but was unsuccessful.
24:05It was a cold evening.
24:06She got cold and she returned to the party and actually remained there the rest of the night.
24:10We didn't know if this was just some angry kid who ended up going home or if this was our actual killer.
24:22Less than 24 hours after Tara's murder, the name Ryan Burgess was given to us as an individual who had attended the party partially.
24:41In between the 9 and 10 p.m. hour, he'd gotten into the fight with a host and had left the party in the direction of the Gillen home.
24:56On his way home, a short amount of time before Tara Gillen was brutally murdered,
25:01and frankly, it had been the biggest great outside of that initial shoe impression that we had gotten.
25:08As investigators talked to various individuals who had attended the party,
25:13they described Mr. Burgess as an 18-year-old,
25:16as a quiet individual, kept to himself, had been bullied in the past.
25:21He wasn't an individual that had really gotten into trouble, wasn't an individual to start trouble.
25:26Investigators were able to get in contact with Ryan's girlfriend.
25:31She certainly did admit that they were together that night.
25:34She went back to the party and he went off on his own,
25:36but she just didn't think that he was the type of guy that could have committed that type of crime.
25:46Investigators started to check into Mr. Burgess' background.
25:50They found out that he didn't live that far down the road from the Gillen residence.
25:54So right away again, another indicator that certainly they needed to talk to Mr. Burgess.
26:02Detectives found out that Ryan Burgess was living with the Shelley family on Elm Street.
26:10My mom was a big heart.
26:14And she had no problem opening her home to anybody that needed it.
26:18And when my brother said, Ryan needs a bed to sleep in, she said, absolutely.
26:27Ryan actually grew really close with my family.
26:31He would do anything for anybody.
26:33There were some kids in town that kind of felt like Ryan was a target.
26:43My brother would fight some of his battles for him when he needed to.
26:48Ryan was just more of a passive kind of kid.
26:51Ryan came from a tough background, but he was just the kind of kid that needed a break and needed someone to love him.
26:58The night of the party, I'd only seen him for an instant.
27:05When we were leaving, Ryan seemed like he had been feeling pretty good.
27:14That night, we had got back to my parents' house.
27:18It was just before midnight.
27:21And my son was already sleeping.
27:22And we were just sitting in the living room, waiting for the ball to drop.
27:49Ryan had walked in the door.
27:52He was soaking wet from his waist down.
28:06And I remember looking at him like, for lack of better words, what are you doing?
28:11You know, and he looked at me and he's like, oh, I just, you know, I walked home and this and that.
28:16I made a comment about him being an idiot because he walked all the way home and we would have went and picked him up if he needed a ride.
28:25Brian went into the bedroom that he was sharing with my brother, changed, got some sweatpants on and came out and sat on the couch.
28:43And just talked to us.
28:46And I said, you know, we heard somebody got stabbed up on Old Center Street.
28:55You know, you were up that way.
28:56You stabbed anybody tonight?
28:57No, no, no, you know, I just, in his normal way, he was a fairly quiet kid.
29:05He didn't talk to you like face to face because he was always like head down like, you know, like, no, no, I wasn't.
29:11He just laughed it off and said, no, I have no idea.
29:34We left, he went to bed, the night kind of just ended.
29:41When we had woken up, my dad called, I need you guys to come over here.
29:55He just said the state police were there on Elm Street.
30:00Obviously, it was a frantic drive over there because we had to know what was going on.
30:06We were going through every scenario in our head, you know, what we thought had happened.
30:11When we got there, there were reporters wanting to speak with us and it seemed a little bit chaotic.
30:23With all of the chaos going on, detectives in the house getting various bits of information,
30:31it was pretty confusing and emotional at that time.
30:35And my dad said, Ryan has been talked to about a break-in and a murder.
30:47He's going through hell because he's getting accused of something he didn't do.
30:50How do you know he didn't do it?
30:52Because I know he didn't do it.
30:54I can just tell.
30:55I was thinking they must have had the wrong person.
31:02Oh, I didn't want to cry.
31:06There was no way he had the capability of doing that.
31:10He's harmless.
31:11He's a good soul.
31:13He's got such a big heart.
31:14How could he possibly kill somebody?
31:17And I remember talking to the state troopers and saying, there's no way he did this.
31:22He got the wrong person.
31:23When we announced ourselves at the Elm Street residence,
31:36Mrs. Shelley was surprised that we were there.
31:39We indicated to her that we had interest in speaking with Ryan Burgess.
31:44She indicated that Ryan was currently taking a shower.
31:47When Ryan came out of the shower, we introduced ourselves to him.
32:02We immediately observed that he had a cut to his left upper lip.
32:07In addition, he had several random scratches on both of his forearms.
32:18When they asked him how he got these marks,
32:22he stated he was in a fight with somebody, but he couldn't remember who it was.
32:27And we asked him if we might be able to see the clothing that he was wearing the night before.
32:33He consented to that and actually led us into his bedroom.
32:37As investigators are going through his room,
32:42and they asked Mr. Burgess for the shoes he had been wearing the night before,
32:53he reached under the bed, pulled out a pair of pumas, blue pumas.
32:58They looked at the shoes, but immediately their attention was drawn to the outsole.
33:09And what they noted was the same wavy pattern with the circle that they had seen the night before.
33:17That was the golden ticket.
33:19Those shoes matched exactly what we saw at the gilling crime scene.
33:23This is when I knew we had our suspect.
33:27We left the residence and began driving to the state police barracks,
33:35which was actually very close to the Elm Street location.
33:39We said to him,
33:41Ryan, we know what happened last night.
33:43And he said to us,
33:45I don't know what you're talking about.
33:47It's Ryan.
33:48Did you enter a house on Old Center Street?
33:51Ryan, maybe to get warm?
33:54He denied that.
33:56And we said,
33:57Ryan, maybe the person even let you in.
34:01Maybe they even came on to you.
34:03And to our amazement, he said,
34:05yeah, she came on to me.
34:07She led me on.
34:12That was the first indication from him,
34:14almost a soft admission,
34:15that's putting him at the residence with Tara.
34:19This was big.
34:24But we pressed it a little bit more.
34:27We said,
34:28Ryan, we think something bad happened in that house.
34:33And that's when Mr. Burgess started to come around
34:36and talk about what had actually happened.
34:41He said after a fight with his girlfriend,
34:44he left the fell house at around 9 p.m.
34:49He actually sees a car back out of a driveway
35:03at the Gillen residence.
35:11He went around the side of the house.
35:13He entered a screened porch area
35:27through a storm door that was unlocked.
35:31He could see a young female watching TV.
35:35He was surprised that all of a sudden
35:49she showed up right at the door.
35:52Face to face with him, just through the glass.
35:58She asked him who he was and what he wanted.
36:01And his response was,
36:02I'm friends with your sister.
36:03Somehow, the door ends up opening.
36:22And she tried to run away from him.
36:24And he caught up with her.
36:42Tara screamed.
36:46And when she screamed,
36:48he reached up with both hands
36:49and began strangling her.
36:55He continued to squeeze and strangle her.
37:03She fell to the floor.
37:05And while she lay there,
37:13gasping for breath,
37:14trying to breathe,
37:15caught him to him.
37:16He went out into the kitchen.
37:20He retrieved a steak knife.
37:22And as Tara continued to try to breathe,
37:26she saw him coming
37:31and tried to run away from him.
37:34But she fell down on the ground.
37:38And that's when he began to stab her.
37:56At least 21 times.
38:07He had removed her pants.
38:10And he stated to us
38:11that he had intercourse with her.
38:17Ryan stated after ransacking the house
38:19and had his cigarette,
38:21he heard a car approaching.
38:22And at this time,
38:24he knew he had to get out of the house.
38:28That's when Wister Gillen
38:29had come home and found her.
38:34Horribly horrific.
38:37It's just the total randomness
38:40of that evening
38:41to put all these pieces in place
38:43with the ultimate loss
38:45of Tara's life
38:46is just
38:46incomprehensible.
38:51When I found out
38:52what had transpired
38:54and how brutal
38:55everything was,
38:57that was a tough moment.
38:58several days later,
39:05with Ryan's help,
39:06he was able to guide us
39:08to the location
39:09of the murder weapon.
39:12Ryan stated that
39:13while he was running,
39:14he threw the knife
39:15in the darkness
39:16into what he believed
39:19was a cranberry bug.
39:21And we started walking
39:22along the edge
39:23of the cranberry bug.
39:26And somebody found it.
39:31We found out
39:32that Ryan dropped out of school
39:34in the ninth grade,
39:36got involved with drugs,
39:38and had a history
39:39of breaking and entering.
39:41By 1996,
39:42his parents had actually
39:43put him out of the house,
39:44and that's when he met
39:45the Shelleys,
39:46and the Shelleys
39:47took him in
39:48and gave him a place
39:50to stay at their home.
39:55Ryan Burgess
39:56was ultimately found
39:57guilty of murder
39:58in the first degree,
39:59which amounted to life
40:01in prison
40:02without the opportunity
40:04of parole.
40:06It does make him a monster,
40:07but I think that monster
40:09was buried down deep inside,
40:11and something happened
40:12that night,
40:13and that all came out.
40:14I don't think that Ryan
40:17was able to digest
40:19what he did.
40:22I think the guilt
40:23and the remorse
40:24for what he had done
40:25was just unbearable.
40:28He destroyed
40:29not just Tara's life,
40:32but her parents,
40:34the rest of her family.
40:36It is something
40:37you can't come back from.
40:40It was only a couple years
40:42after he was incarcerated
40:43that he took his own life.
40:47Tara had her whole life
40:49in front of her.
40:51The 20-year-old,
40:52she had barely begun
40:53to live it,
40:54and her life is just
40:55wiped out
40:56for no reason at all,
40:58and that's it.
41:00There's no replay.
41:01There's no pause.
41:02There's no rewind.
41:04That house on Elm Street
41:12was a horror scene.
41:14Somebody died
41:14in my house.
41:16Somebody what?
41:16Died.
41:17Toothpaste up the nose
41:18and shampoo in the eyes.
41:20I've never seen
41:21a scene like this before.
41:23They only left
41:24a three-year-old alive.
41:25His mom had always told him
41:26that monsters aren't real.
41:28She was wrong.
41:29She was wrong.
41:30She was wrong.
41:30She was wrong.
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