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00:29When all this happened, it was the day before Christmas Eve.
00:37That day, I was sick.
00:41I had like a cold, so I didn't go to work.
00:46A pretty close neighbor, Jerry, came to the door, Hunter and Helen, Helen, come quick.
01:06And he said, Mary Lou and Dorothy both are missing.
01:16So, my son, and I had to walk over there with him.
01:27I had a jollo.
01:31Real small.
01:33Didn't hear not one.
01:36Peep out nothing.
01:40I just found them upstairs.
01:44It was a shower.
01:48They were blood.
01:50From the living room all the way to the basement floor.
01:58When my son got to the basement, he heard him, he said,
02:04Mom, don't come.
02:07Don't come.
02:09Don't go.
02:23Don't go.
02:25Don't go.
02:29Don't go.
03:01It was the 23rd of December, 1997.
03:07I worked as a detective in the Homicide Special Assignment Section.
03:16You know, you never know what you're in for when you get to work, so you hope it's slow
03:22because it's Christmas time.
03:25I was looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, you know, telling the food,
03:29visiting, opening presents, and things of that nature.
03:33But the call came in, and we were dispatched out to Elm Street.
03:43Elm Street was a neighborhood that stood out by itself, like its own little peninsula.
03:50There wasn't a lot of crime or any action.
03:56As I got out the vehicle, you can see a guy standing in the front of the house.
04:00He had a hook on one arm, and that was just really odd to see someone with a hook on their
04:07arm.
04:08He said his name was Jerry Drury, wanting us to, you know, go in the house.
04:17He was very, very frantic.
04:19As I walk in the house, you can smell the blood, blood, a Christmas tree.
04:41Those two things don't go together at all.
04:54There were footprints leading down to the basement, just like what am I going to see when I get
05:02down there?
05:27in the basement there was a pile of clothes
05:37but it really wasn't an ordinary pile of clothes there was something wrong
05:45as i pulled back the clothes
05:49there's a body all you're seeing was the plastic bag over their head
05:56with the duct tape around their neck there was so much blood you couldn't see a face
06:03i mean i've not seen anything like that since i've been at homicide
06:09on the left side of the basement there was another body
06:16and in the same manner with a bag over the head duct tape around the bag
06:22when i went down and saw the second body there was a tube sticking out of the bag
06:34they were elderly ladies i had elderly parents and i just couldn't imagine
06:40having to come home to something that gruesome
06:43it was just really really horrific
06:47i was working for the detroit police department in the homicide section
07:02when i arrived we found out that jerry's wife mary lowe was 57 years old and his mother-in-law
07:13dorothy gilbert was 74 years old on oxygen and more or less disabled
07:20when you first enter a house the evidence starts writing the picture for you
07:28in this case there was blood and drag marks
07:35it looked as if there may have been a fight or a struggle
07:42so it is my belief that they were alive when they were taken to the basement
07:51i would say that whoever done this
07:57prayed on them
08:00the murder itself was brutal
08:03and they left a trail behind them which means that we weren't looking at a professional criminal
08:10what really actually stood out is that there were like claw marks
08:19and the fact that instead of completing a search for his wife he went and got someone to go into the basement of the house
08:26so maybe he was involved in it himself
08:33i was 20 years old in 1997
08:37i was 20 years old in 1997
08:41i was 20 years old in 1997
08:46i was 20 years old in 1997
08:50i lived on elm street since i was five years old
08:57and we knew everybody like even if we didn't know your name we knew your face
09:05when i seen my mom my heart it was in my stomach
09:09my mom said they killed mary lou and dorothy
09:13and she was hysterical she was bawling and crying and jerry's in the back of a cop car
09:20and i'm just i'm just as shocked as everybody else
09:26i moved into the neighborhood and i was like five
09:30even as a kid
09:33he came across as cold
09:35like he didn't really look at me
09:38it was like he gave me an eeriness about him
09:41but it could be because he just didn't speak
09:44jerry stayed in that cop car for a long time
09:48and i don't know like what was going on
09:52i don't know
09:55i think we all like everybody was actually scared
10:02jerry he said he had left about 9 30 in the morning
10:05he had a plumbing job that he went to
10:08and that he arrived back at the house approximately around 12 30
10:13and then he saw the blood trails
10:15we asked mr dreary what may possibly may have been missing
10:22and during the search of the house
10:26mr dreary discovered there was a bloody jewelry box that was empty
10:32four hundred dollars in cash was missing
10:36and credit cards were missing from the dreary home
10:39the checkbook was missing
10:43and they nickel-plated 38 revolver
10:49that had been taken out of the house
10:53so based on the evidence that we saw
10:58we know it was a robbery
11:00and then we found out that jerry had a business partner
11:05and it turned out that he was working
11:08so we were able to eliminate him as a suspect
11:12when the murders happened
11:16none of us slept in our house that day
11:18my mom my dad me my uncle none of us
11:20i was actually scared for the first time
11:25for the first time
11:28after it happened
11:30i was scared
11:32i made my husband get up
11:35go to the bathroom with me
11:40because of the severity of the crime
11:43the bags over the head
11:45put the duct tape
11:47it's a horrible death when you're gasping for air
11:49and you can't get it
11:51it made me feel like
11:53i gotta get this case closed
11:55i gotta find out who did this
11:57and get them off the street
11:58before they do it again
12:02i knew that there was the camera out there
12:15it was christmas time
12:18and we had a double homicide
12:21items missing
12:23weapons missing
12:25and a perpetrator that was out there
12:27that was armed and dangerous
12:28the crime itself was horrific
12:31the victim was mary lou dreary
12:33and dorothy gilbert
12:35what i saw in that house
12:38was like a nightmare
12:40i can't forget this case
12:43elm street
12:45it was not a crime written area
12:47so everyone was scared
12:50everybody was talking about it
12:53and we really did not think
12:55it was somebody from our neighborhood
12:57everybody was coming up with somebody
13:00trying to rob them
13:01but how could this happen with
13:03the neighbors right like that
13:05the cousins were very close
13:06it was the eeriness in the air
13:09it was the eeriness in the air
13:13it was it was just a show
13:17it was it was one of the most heinous things that i've ever
13:32like this was elm street
13:47you didn't litter you didn't bust the glass like you did on the other blocks like all the kids played together it was just it was nice
13:49and i just could not believe that this happened to them like oh my god
14:06i love mary lou just as well as my mom
14:21she never corrected you
14:23to let you learn your own way
14:26she was super nice to me
14:29and her mother
14:30dorothy was more nice than mary lou
14:34they were like family
14:38back then in detroit
14:39murders didn't get put on the news
14:43and we got news crews out there
14:45we got channel four seven
14:46everybody out here now
14:48two elderly women have been found murdered in their detroit home
14:51police are still searching for any witnesses
14:53residents are on edge after a brutal attack the day before christmas on elm street
15:01at the time i was working as the crime reporter for the detroit free press
15:04i get a call from my editor
15:06we got a breaking story
15:07we got a double murder
15:08you gotta go out
15:09the story was cold so i bundled up and waddled my way out to the scene
15:18at that time there had been a rash of home invasions and murders in the surrounding neighborhood
15:29just a few weeks before there had been a triple murder just a few blocks away
15:34two elderly sisters and a husband who was in his 80s had been stabbed to death
15:5512 days later before the elm street case about four miles away from elm street a mother a daughter and a grandson was actually shot to death
16:12in this case the home was also ransacked
16:15in this case the home was also ransacked
16:19in all three cases there was no forced entry
16:23so based on the similarities the general public would say oh my god is there a murder spree going on in the city of detroit
16:31the first thought that you have is could i be in danger
16:38like you've seen people get jacked people get robbed
16:42but this was like different different this was like movie stuff
16:48we never locked our door on elm street
16:50and we was in the middle of detroit
16:52that's how safe we thought we were
16:54that's how safe we thought we were
16:56it was a different feeling with mary lou and dorothy car
16:59like it wasn't the same
17:01they was our neighbors and it was family
17:05i was on day shift
17:09when we got a call from the medical examiner
17:13with uh autopsy reports
17:15based on mary lou's injuries
17:18she was still alive during the time that they were putting the plastic bag around her neck
17:27and the killer or killers decided to do the same thing to dorothy
17:35dorothy had emphysema
17:37and it was just really horrific that you know that you would just stick a rag in her mouth
17:43duct tape her
17:46knowing that it had an oxygen tank
17:50the brutality of the killings
17:53and also the fact that the body was partially covered
17:57was just a true indicator that maybe it was somebody that knew them prior to the death
18:04when somebody covers the body it's not to hide the body
18:09it's to remove them from their vision
18:12so at that time we went back to the vicinity of the other murders to see are they connected
18:22we had to see if there's any similarities with the elm street case
18:27where we could say okay this perpetrator was over here as well
18:33well what you do a lot of times is you have to look for what we call a modus operandi
18:40we look for things that are similar to other crimes that have already occurred
18:47none of that was present at the time of our investigation
18:51one house the person was stabbed the other person was shot
18:57we discovered the only thing that actually connected them was that there was no forced entry
19:04there was never a correlation between them
19:11based on Dorothy's and Mary Lou's injuries
19:14the perpetrator just really had a vengeance against them
19:17it was a well-knit close community and the more that we looked and the more that we investigated
19:29it definitely felt as if they knew their assailants
19:34the evidence led us directly to elm street
19:37and that's where we started concentrating our energies
19:50the day after Mary Lou and Dorothy was killed
19:53it was christmas eve
19:55I don't even remember christmas in 1997
20:00like we would rather not have christmas that year
20:04you can't celebrate during that
20:07like nothing as brutal as ever happened
20:15but we went to the house
20:17I was with my mom
20:19it was horrible
20:20like because we was helping clean up and stuff like that
20:24mind you I'm 20 and I'm just
20:29I honestly
20:31I was scared
20:33the lights, presence, everything like that was still there
20:37there was like splats of blood in places that they didn't clean up off the floor like the walls
20:45you could see where the trail of blood has been
20:49and like Jerry he cried a lot
20:52I
20:54I
20:55I
20:56I can't forget
20:57like I have a picture in my head
20:59and
21:00why
21:01did this happen
21:02that was one thing I've never understood
21:05I've never understood
21:18we had to find out who had a motive to actually commit the crime
21:22so we went and did a survey of the neighborhood
21:26during the canvas we discovered that the Drury family pretty much owned the block
21:33Mary Lou was in the business of renting the homes out
21:37she pretty much picked her own neighbors
21:41in this instance here
21:44Mary Lou knew everybody
21:46Mary Lou was the landlady and like she gave me big boss energy without flamboyance
21:54like she didn't have furs and she could have
21:57she wasn't flashy
21:59she was about her business
22:01you knew not to play with her
22:03like you knew to respect her
22:05that's the energy she gave me
22:08she had the office in the front
22:12that she would conduct her business
22:15people would come in and out to drop their rent off
22:18they really didn't lock the door
22:23so anyone in that neighborhood had an opportunity to be able to enter the Drury home
22:30the family they were pretty much vulnerable
22:34she was fair
22:36she rented with people who are on welfare
22:39if you didn't have your rent money
22:40she wasn't the type to be like
22:41you got 30 days and you're out of here
22:43I think Mary Lou was perhaps too trusting
22:46we all know what it's like to have a landlord
22:48it's not usually a loving and friendly relationship
22:51December 23rd was the day the homicides took place
22:56that was close to the time that people would come in
22:59and pay rent to the Drury family
23:07during the search of the house
23:09I discovered that there was some weapons missing
23:17Mary Lou kept the gun at her desk
23:21you know a fight could escalate at any moment
23:29where we started asking people whether or not they seen anything remarkable
23:34at the time Jerry was at work from 9.30 a.m. up until 12.45 p.m.
23:40and that's when we discovered that one of the neighbors heard something
23:50Hazel Johnson was sort of the next door neighbor
23:53maybe a little bit of a nosy body
23:55she was good friends with Mary Lou
23:57and it was Christmas time
24:00and so Hazel has some holiday cards that she wants to drop off to her friend
24:04the family they have five chihuahuas
24:07the dogs knew the neighbor Hazel very well
24:11Hazel was the cat lady on the street
24:14she saved all the cats
24:16if you walk past Hazel's house
24:19you might see her walking around with a la la
24:21you know what I'm saying
24:22cats everywhere
24:23normally the dogs would stop barking when they smell her
24:27well Hazel said that when she knocked on the door
24:31she could hear the dogs barking frantically
24:33the door was locked which was very unusual
24:45she's thinking that something's off
24:47but she wasn't sure
24:50if Hazel would have got inside that house that day
24:53she would have definitely came to the same fate as Mary Lou and Dorothy
24:58like if you walk past her house
25:00that's all you would hear is them dogs
25:02that's why everybody didn't understand how this happened
25:05it's because all these dogs would have been barking
25:07and nobody heard nothing
25:10when I talked to the police
25:12I said I didn't hear the dogs barking
25:15but Pamela Benoit was the tenant that lived above Mary Lou and Dorothy
25:20maybe she had heard something
25:25my mom would take care of Dorothy all during the day
25:29and Pam moved in up there so she could be available at night
25:34she was super nice to me like she never yelled at me
25:39she never did nothing like that
25:41she was there to take care of Dorothy
25:44caregivers have a way of becoming endeared to the person they're giving care to
25:49I would imagine that having a trusted person in their midst
25:54to take care of their ailing mother and treat her as a grandmother must have felt like a blessing
26:01and based on the information that we received
26:07Mary Lou and Dorothy got along great with Pamela
26:13she even called Dorothy Grandma
26:17the main problem was that Pamela Benoit was nowhere to be found
26:23the door was locked
26:25her vehicle was left outside
26:27the question was where was Pamela?
26:30where is the caregiver?
26:32what time did she leave?
26:34and where did she go?
26:36and why hadn't she returned?
26:41we ended up getting a search warrant for her apartment
26:46and looking at her apartment
26:48it seemed like she just disappeared
26:50if someone was going out of town
26:52there were certain things that would have been missing
26:54and those things were not missing at that time
26:56we were thinking that Pamela could be the third victim
26:59Pamela Benoit could have walked in on the murderers in the act
27:03and they could have killed her too
27:05so there could have been three victims that day instead of two
27:08the day after the murders of Mary Lou Drury, who was Jerry's wife
27:25and Dorothy Gilbert, who was Mary Lou's mother
27:28everyone's talking, everybody's there
27:31trying to figure out who could it be
27:33who could it be
27:34but then the investigators started looking around
27:37and asking who's supposed to be here
27:40and isn't here
27:41guess who?
27:42it was Pamela Benoit
27:44Pamela Benoit was a caretaker
27:46and was really close to the Drury family
27:48she lived right upstairs
27:50but at this point she was nowhere to be found
27:54this gave us even a higher intensity on the search for her
28:00she too could have been a victim
28:03so we called in the first person that we talked to
28:06the homeowner, Jerry Drury
28:09he was thinking on what else he may have missed
28:13and he actually gave us information that
28:17on the day of the murders
28:19he saw Pamela and Mary Lou talking for a long time
28:25he said she had a boyfriend
28:28who was living with her on and off
28:31Pamela and Charles, their relationship
28:34sort of volatile
28:36Charles was around, did odd jobs
28:40early on the Drury family felt like
28:43he could help with the house and the maintenance
28:46Charles was a handyman
28:48but he had a violent past
28:52so Jerry thinks maybe something's off
28:57from day one
28:58it was always a feeling about Charles
29:01it looked pretty bad
29:04he never spoke to us much
29:07I was actually scared for Pam
29:10later that day
29:19we found a witness that Pamela came to her
29:23to use her telephone
29:28she said the morning of the murders
29:30on December 23rd
29:32that Pamela Vannoy and Charles Vaughn
29:35showed up at her house
29:37and she was carrying plastic bags
29:40Pam had a lot of her personal belongings
29:43and she wanted to leave them at her house
29:45and Charles went straight to the bathroom
29:48she didn't think anything of it
29:53until when Charles came back
29:54he pulled a gun and said
29:56look, you didn't see us
29:57and then they disappeared
30:01it was a nickel-plated .38 revolver
30:04it looked like the one that was missing
30:07at that moment
30:08we suspected Charles
30:10killed Mary Lou
30:11and Dorothy
30:13he was armed and dangerous
30:16he actually threatened a witness
30:18so there was no telling
30:19if he would use that weapon
30:21for something worse
30:23for something worse
30:32I continued to canvass the neighborhood
30:38we found a witness
30:39he made a statement
30:41that was revealing in several ways
30:45so the neighbor, Helen
30:47had been drinking with Mary Lou the night before
30:50you know
30:53it was Christmas time
30:55my mother
30:56she worked for Mary Lou
30:58like everybody else
30:59throughout the neighborhood
31:00but Mary Lou took her to bingo
31:03every night
31:04five nights a week
31:05that night
31:07Mary Lou told Helen
31:09that she had caught Pamela stealing $15
31:12from her bingo envelope
31:14and things went sour between the two
31:24we found out Mary Lou told Helen
31:26that they had been trying to help her out
31:28because Pamela was a drug addict
31:30ask the Mary Lou
31:34be careful
31:36of what you're doing
31:39Pamela used heroin
31:42and heroin moves people
31:44into a different category
31:45because now
31:47they need drugs
31:48just to maintain
31:49their own physical strength
31:51and they're more inclined
31:53to take something
31:54that's not theirs
31:55Pamela Benoit
31:57Pamela Benoit
31:58she really, really
31:59messed up her trust
32:00with Mary Lou
32:01Mary Lou wanted to be able
32:03to trust you
32:04but if you lose her trust
32:05she didn't want you
32:06inside her house no more
32:08that's what was so hurtful
32:11about it
32:13I knew Pam
32:16was no good to it
32:18it was discovered
32:20that Mary Lou
32:21was going to evict Pamela
32:23the next day
32:24Pam wanted to get an extension
32:28and Mary Lou said no
32:31because you stole
32:33you have to leave
32:34so Pamela Benoit wasn't on the scene
32:39because she was supposed to be evicted
32:41that very day
32:42why?
32:43because she had her sticky fingers
32:44in Mary Lou's bingo purse
32:46it was too much of a coincidence
32:51that she got evicted
32:53from the home
32:54and the murders happened
32:56the same day
32:57was Pam the victim
32:58or was she actually
33:00the perpetrator
33:01of this particular crime?
33:05the cops used to say
33:06at the time
33:07let's heat these people up
33:08and they started blasting that
33:10and pasting it
33:11all over the news media
33:12so their faces were on TV
33:14we said look
33:16if you see these people
33:17they're armed and dangerous
33:19please call
33:20I'm like looking on the TV
33:23and could not believe
33:25what I was seeing
33:27I knew exactly
33:29who they were talking about
33:30somebody that
33:31had access to her mother
33:33that was helping her
33:35it was just unbelievable
33:37it was just unbelievable
33:39turns out
33:45some clerks
33:46sees their pictures
33:47they just checked in
33:48calls 9-1-1
33:50Christmas Eve
33:521997
33:53someone recognized
33:54Charles Vaughn
33:56the manager
33:57gave us the information
33:58that they checked in
33:59on December 23rd
34:00and we knew that Charles
34:02was armed and dangerous
34:04so we mobilized some units
34:08to go with us
34:09we had to be on high alert
34:13there was a possibility
34:16that there could be
34:17shots fired
34:18this could escalate
34:21at any moment
34:22you know that
34:24it's people are armed
34:25they stole guns
34:26this is the single most dangerous
34:28thing that any cop can ever do
34:30after the murder
34:44someone recognized
34:46Charles Vaughn
34:47and Pamela Vannoy
34:48at a hotel
34:49that was in Dearborn, Michigan
34:51we knew that Charles Vaughn
34:54had a weapon
34:55we saw movement
34:56by the vending machines
34:58it was Pamela Vannoy
35:00and Charles Vaughn
35:01we moved in abruptly
35:07we did take them into custody
35:14there was no fight
35:17and they made the arrest
35:19and we searched the hotel room
35:28I pulled back the heater
35:31there was money that was behind there
35:34credit cards
35:36as well as a nickel plated .38
35:39and another weapon was a .38 Cobra
35:42and it appeared to have dried up blood
35:44on the actual weapon itself
35:47when the forensics came back
35:51the blood belonged to Mary Lou
35:55once Pamela and Charles were under arrest
35:58we talked to them separately
36:02Charles said Pamela
36:04is a drug addict
36:07she's jonesing for heroin
36:09and so she's the one
36:10coming up with this concocted scheme
36:12to kill these people
36:13he said he had no idea
36:16what Pamela had planned
36:18when he went upstairs
36:19to her apartment
36:20and left her downstairs
36:22with Mary Lou and Dorothy
36:24he said a fight ensued downstairs
36:30and then everything just went quiet
36:35after 20 minutes of not hearing anything
36:41he went downstairs
36:42he saw Pamela standing over the bodies
36:46Charles said that he helped her move Dorothy's body
36:51because he was afraid of what she was capable of doing
36:54Pamela has a different version of this story
36:58according to Pamela Charles wanted to do a robbery
37:03he said they've used us long enough
37:09somehow this wonderful family who took them in
37:13gave them room and board and pocket money
37:16and paid them for an honest day's work
37:18that somehow he was owed more
37:21they were gonna wait until Gerald went to work
37:28went to go downstairs
37:31coast is clear
37:32the plan was simple
37:34tie him up and rob him
37:35no harm no foul
37:36little bit of harm
37:37little bit of foul
37:38but certainly no bloodshed and murder
37:42but Pamela says
37:43once they go back inside
37:45some kind of switch went off
37:49and Charles became violently angry
37:52she said that
37:54Mary Lou was begging and pleading
37:56before Charles did anything to her mother Dorothy
38:00but he didn't care
38:02Pamela said she tried to intervene
38:04and stop him
38:06from what would become a murderous frenzy
38:08he turns the gun on his girlfriend
38:12and says this deserves it
38:15it wasn't a matter of who did it
38:18both of them were there at the time
38:20both of them became enraged
38:22because they had nowhere to go
38:24they had no money
38:26they had no family and friends
38:28that would take them in
38:29at that particular time
38:31truthfully I don't believe it
38:33I don't believe that one person
38:35did all of that
38:37it was a two person job
38:39it's my belief that Dorothy heard the fight
38:50heard the struggle
38:52heard the yelling
38:53and came to the assistance of her daughter
38:56who was fighting for her life
38:58and she too got caught up in the web
39:03of the killing
39:05they were alive
39:09when they were taken to the basement
39:11and they died a horrible death
39:14they were both sentenced to life in prison
39:19which I think was well deserved
39:22it's a sense of satisfaction
39:28that you were able to close the case
39:31but the whole block was devastated by homicide
39:36whatever sense of safety
39:39that this tight-knit Elm Street community had felt
39:43that was over forever
39:45our life pivoted at that point
39:50it didn't
39:51like that was a pivot point
39:53of all of our lives
39:57my mom didn't celebrate another Christmas
39:59until my son came
40:03Mary Lou was
40:06like a sister
40:09to me
40:11the world will ever change
40:14I just
40:18can't understand
40:21why
40:23why
40:27somebody would just
40:29just
40:36December of 1997
40:38just shows you how
40:39sinister and evil
40:41people can be
40:43and it doesn't matter
40:44what time of year
40:45it is
40:46evil definitely
40:47doesn't take a holiday
40:50the address is
40:52it's no longer there
40:53as a matter of fact
40:54it's now a parking garage
40:56but
40:58the memories
40:59of what happened
41:00on Elm Street
41:01is still alive
41:02it's still alive
41:09never want another memory
41:11I did
41:12it's still like a dream
41:17I'll never put over it
41:21right
41:22right
41:24you
41:26I
41:27I
41:28just
41:29I
41:30know
41:31I
41:32know
41:33I
41:34know
41:35for her
41:36I
41:37I
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