Speaker 1 : Her mama said she could set a clock by this child. If she said she's going to be home at one o'clock, she's hitting that door at one o'clock. Well, from the school bus stop (South Spring Garden Avenue) where they would drop her off was a straight shot to her house.
The road is straight as an era. I mean it's got some trees and some coverage. But she didn't have to get off that main road, you know, Deerfoot. [...] She had an older sister that wasn't on the bus anymore, she had graduated, and then a younger sister that took another bus because she was still in middle school that day. Laura Lee was the only kid on her street that was in high school that was on that bus. So she got off by herself. Several people saw her. The bus driver saw her start walking. There was a couple that was selling plants kind of at the intersection. They saw her and then nothing. (...)
This child was a to b. That bus dropped her off. She was in her house within ten minutes the only time that was not the case, she stopped at a neighbor's that she passes that had horses and was petting the horses, and her mama called that neighbor and said, Hey, it's Laura Lee down there. She said, yeah, ain't say here, she's petting the horses. And then she got home. So literally, within ten minutes, mama was already calling neighbors to Belusia County Sheriff's Department. Credit when Mama calls, they send deputies immediately.
When they can't find her in a reasonable amount of time, they put a helicopter in the air. The helicopter is the one that saw her. Now, when I was there, this is the part that just punched me in the gut. I drive from the bus stop to the crime scene. In order to get to the crime scene A to B you have to pass her house. So literally, this killer grabs her and drives her past her house. (...)
Now where it was, there was a home burned to the ground a year prior, and nobody rebuilt. They just kept it that way. So it was known to some of the local kids, and they would go there and drink and smoke and carry on. So it was known to a group of young people. (...)
What also stuck out for me was where the house was built is like encased in trees. I mean it's secluded.
Nobody would have seen you in there.
Speaker 2 : There was not someone just driving by and they see Laureley and go, oh, let me grab
her and murder her, shoot her multiple times, and leave her lying out at this vacant house. Now crime scene. Okay, what can we get to the black truck the lowriderm H.
So what I'm saying is the person had to know that the school bus let out at that spot at that time. I don't think that they were just driving by and see her and grab her. I don't know. I don't buy into that theory.
Speaker 1: Agreed, And a passer buyer would not have known about this house. You can't see it from the road. You have to know it's there.
Speaker 2 : Yeah, and you know what, there's a really great aerial video. I've been looking at the house. It is totally surrounded by trees. You're right. So this is somebody that knows about the house, and that knows about the bus stop and knows what time the children get off the bus stop,because you know, some some children don't get off until four point thirty, believe it or not. Some get off early too. You've got to know. But if he's willing to wait and the trees gave him a perfect cover.
Speaker 1 : Absolutely. And it's interesting you brought that up because we went back to her house so that I could really from the street level. Her bedroom was on the second floor, in the front of the house. From my car, not
even getting out of my car, you could see her bedroom window plain as day. (...) So I was trying to figure out where did this killer have stood or driven to have a watch point of her. It was so easy.
There's a road that goes straight out in front of her driveway down another way. He could have come from that direction, He could have driven straight past. But to your point, if he followed her just for a day or two, or was a neighbor, or was somebody closed, he might even know. Hey, she's the only kid that gets off the school bus.
Speaker 2 : You know what's interesting. Well, everything's interesting, but so many details and details matter. Cheryl, her hands were tied, some of her clothing most of it missing. It seemed like someone had attempted to sex assault her, but to shoot her multiple times in the back of the head to have the necessary supply to tie her up. Somebody came prepared. Again, this was not random. Who knows a fifteen year old girl who in her circle. It doesn't have to be her immediate circle, such as a parent or a brother or an uncle. You go a step beyond that, to teachers, to people at the grocery store, to pizza delivery guys, to the custodian, to the creepydoote at the church. That's where you go that next step. This is somebody that knew her and wanted to rape her. When I believe when she fought back that he killed her and ran.
Speaker 1 : Another reason I think the person was on the younger side, like under twenty five, to shoot her, not strangle her, not hearing the head of the rock, but to shoot her multiple times up the wrist of somebody hearing it, somebody being close by and going to see what the world's going on. To your point, he came with a loaded weapon. He came murder ready. The biggest thing to me is the burned out house. A stranger, a passer buyer, a transient would not have known that place was there.
This person did. So the suspect pool for me shrinks pretty good.
Speaker 2 : Well, how much credence do you give to the lowrider black truck.
Speaker 1 : If it was only one witness? Maybe not that much. But more than one witness saw it and described it independently. So there was a truck there that was dark in color. So I would you add it to my sheet, and I would start looking again at neighbors, people a street or two over, somebody at that high school that maybe graduated the year before, maybe dropped out the year before.
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