NV NV - Terri McClure, 62, Carson City, 14 January 1983

[Lethalmatthew]

This cold case was featured on Unsolved mysteries in 1989. 62-year old Terri McClure was attending her son's wedding in Stateline, Nevada on Friday January 14th 1983. At about 10 PM, she left the casino where her son and his in-laws were celebrating the wedding. She said that she would drive straight to her house in Reno, about an hour's drive. The day after, on Saturday, Terri's son and his newlywed went to Reno to pay Terri a visit. When they didn't find her or her car at her house, they called the police. On Monday, Terri's body was found inside her car parked in the parking lot of a Carson City casino. She had been shot twice in the head. Her car was locked, and the keys were in the ignition. Terri's purse was missing, but her jewelry was still on her.
The police soon regarded the son, Timothy McClure, as the prime suspect. He had no solid alibi for most of Friday night. Tim claimed he had gambled alone at a slot machine between 10 PM and midnight. At midnight, his in-laws left the casino, and after that, he and his wife went to several other places to party. However, neither Tim nor his wife could name specific locations where they went.
Tim had made a phone call to Terri's credit card company to cancel her credit card. According to the credit card employee, he made that phone call on Friday, before Terri was murdered. Tim claims he made the call on Monday. The police also saw a possible motive for Tim to murder his mother. Six months before her murder, Terri had taken out an insurance on her life of $10,000. Tim would share this with his sister in the event of her death.
The police submitted their evidence to the DA, but they deemed it insufficient to arrest Tim and bring charges against him. In 1992, Tim was arrested after new clues emerged after a rerun of the Unsolved mysteries episode. This time, the DA dismissed the case with prejudice. This means that Tim can never be tried for the murder of his mother. 32 years have passed since Terri's murder, and her killer (Tim or someone else) is still out there somewhere.

Timothy McClure with his mother, Terri

http://http://unsolved.com/archives/terri-mcclure

 

[Rgonzalez]

I can't find where I read that Tim Mclure had been asked what he was doing the night of the murder and he at some point said he was looking for his mother's purse. I do believe he was telling the truth about when he called to cancel her card...he must have told the card company or bank that the last time his mother had it was on or before Friday so that it would be recorded as cancelled at that time so that she would not be responsible for any charges made afterwards. Why would HE bother to call and cancel her card before she died when HE was not the cardholder or authorized user on the account. Most card companies or banks have to get the owners verbal consent to access the account or make changes to accounts. As far as we know there was no mention of speaking with Terri when Tim called. Terri was independent and living alone, and able to drive. According to the obituaries she had been employed at Albertsons at the time and had her own place in Reno. That tells us she was definitely capable of calling and canceling her own card when she was alive if she wanted to. I believe Tim got very drunk on his wedding night, maybe he became so stupid drunk and at some point ended up in the backseat of his mother's car . He wanted to gamble so told her to pull into the nugget parking lot and then realized he didn't have money to gamble. So then he asked his mother for cash which she didn't have. He got pissed off and his anger escalates. He finds a gun in the car and shoots her in a rage.
If there was a pillow found under her head...
The nugget parking lot is between the nugget casino and the nugget motel which to this day is still in business. I bet he got a room there and when he realized what he had done he took a pillow out to her and put it under her head. Later after he sobers up enough to freak out he calls his wife to pick him up which she does but finds out what he did when she gets there or shortly afterwards but prior to being tested with a lie detector which explains why she failed when asked if she knew who killed Teri. They ended up divorcing which who would blame the wife for not wanting to be with a murderer right? I read somewhere his daughter commenting to the story somewhere and mentioning that he hasn't been seen or heard of for years...
I wonder if they ever checked the Nugget motel for information...and why they were not able to subpoena her card account records. If I find the links I to where the daughter made comment or where it says he was looking for her card I will post it on here.