Going West: True Crime - Lisa Ziegert // 393

Episode Date: March 30, 2024

In April of 1992, a 24-year-old woman headed in to a night shift at work in Massachusetts. But when her co-worker arrived the next morning, she noticed a few unsettling things: Her car was still in the parking lot, the door was unlocked, and the OPEN sign was still on. When the woman’s body was found in the woods, police persevered to find her killer. And thanks to a shocking letter, they’d get their answer. This is the story of Lisa Ziegert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host Heath and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hello everybody today's case was recommended by Megan. So thank you, Megan. And we actually mentioned it in episode 301 of Going West on Heidi Allen, because at one point, investigators in Heidi's case wondered if her murder was connected to Lisa's. Yeah, because they were kind of in the same area,

but it appears that they are not, because today's case has a very, very clear answer. Yes, it does. So thanks for tuning in everybody and let's dive right into this one today. Yeah let's do it. All right guys this is episode 393 of Going West so let's get into it. Thanks for watching! And if you're just joining us, we're live from Evan's living room. It looks like Evan is about to purchase tickets to today's match. Kate, the real test is, will he use the BMO Toronto FC Cashback MasterCard? Well, if he wants to earn cash back on his purchases,

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Purchase a 2024 Escape ST line all wheel drive with tech pack at 3.49% APR for 72 months with down payment. That's just $267 bi-weekly. Cash value of $40,294. Plus, eligible Ford owners get a $1,000 bonus. For-old woman was killed a night shift at work in Massachusetts. But when her coworker arrived the next morning, she noticed a few unsettling things. Her car was still in the parking lot, the door to the shop was unlocked, and the open sign was still on. When the woman's body was found in the woods, police persevered to find her killer.

And thanks to a shocking letter, they'd get their answer. This is the story of Lisa Ziegert was born on March 24, 1968 in Hollyoke, Massachusetts to parents George and Diane or Dee Ziegert. She grew up alongside her brother David and her two sisters, Lynn and Sharon, in the town of Agawam, Massachusetts, that hosted a population of around 27,000 people when this story takes place. Agawam is situated on the western side of the Connecticut River, so the town borders the state of Connecticut, and it's right outside the larger city of Springfield, Massachusetts, and this is where Lisa called home. It's a quaint and quiet little town that Lisa's mother described as being, quote, the perfect place to raise a family.

And speaking of, Lisa was very close with her family, who were devout Catholics and dreamed of one day doing exactly as her parents had done. Start a family right there in Agawam. So she was where she wanted to be in life. She loved this town. So after attending high school, Lisa focused her future on a career in education, obtaining a degree from Westfield State University. Her brother, David, later remarked, quote, I tell my kid, she was the coolest person I ever knew. She was kind of a big kid herself.

So after completing her degree, Lisa decided to move back home where she was hired at Aguam Middle School teaching special needs students. And this really aligned with Lisa because not only did Lisa love to teach and love kids, but with her golden heart, she was able to kind of relate to kids and just be an overall good influence to the ones that she saw on a daily basis. But 24 year old Lisa realized pretty early on that she needed to make a little extra money. So she began working at a local shop in Agawam called Brittany's Card and Gift Shop.

Now basically the shop is essentially like they have greeting cards, they have little gifts and things like that. So this new gig required her to work on the weekends, but she would also have to work nights, and she almost always did so alone. On Wednesday, April 15, 1992, Lisa was scheduled to work a fairly normal shift, which was the 5-9pm shift at Brittany's gift shop. It was four days before Easter that year, and Lisa showed up to work as usual. Her sister Lynn even stopped by around 5.30pm that day just to chat about the upcoming holiday,

which was Easter, and how things were going with Lisa's new job at the middle school. I mean, nothing really seemed job at the middle school. I mean, nothing really seemed out of the ordinary here. And after about 30 minutes, Lynn left the store. But at some point that evening, a customer walked into the card shop, found the lights on, but no sign of any employee anywhere. And this was just before 9pm, so right before closing time. So this customer called out for assistance but never received a reply from anyone. So with that, they left and they just didn't really think much of it. Which is kind of a creepy situation anyway, you're walking into a store at night time and there's just nobody there.

Yeah, and it's open, the open sign is still on, you know, it's not, it doesn't seem like anybody was closing up shop even though the store was supposed to close at 9 p.m. But this person didn't think that something was wrong or else they would have gone to police, I'm sure, but you know, maybe they thought that the employee was in the bathroom or they were outside or whatever. Yeah, maybe on a break or something. Yeah, they didn't report this and they just kind of left. Right. So the next morning, which was Tuesday April 16th, an employee of that same card shop named Sophia Maynard, who was scheduled to work that day, arrived to work at 9 a.m.

to find that the door was unlocked, which was pretty unusual because she was there to open the store herself. So thinking maybe someone else had unlocked the door, she stepped inside. But the store was eerily quiet. When she searched the shop for another employee, she never found one, but she did find that Lisa's belongings were still inside. But strangely, there was no sign of Lisa. Now, things got even more strange when she headed out to the parking lot to find Lisa's white Chevy Geo Storm was also still there, and the shop's open sign was still on. So, this was very out of character for the young teacher and employee, who prided herself on being extremely responsible.

So, with things not really adding up here, Sophia ran out of the store and across the street to a shop called Alvin's Sandwich Shop, where she anxiously shouted out, Something's wrong, call the cops. Well, when local police arrived to the scene, they made their way through the card shop and entered the back room, and there,

they found immediate signs that something was wrong in the form of boxes that had been knocked over and crushed. But on top of that, and even more alarming, they found blood spatters on the boxes, with some blood even found on some of the greeting cards near the back room. It didn't appear that a robbery was a motive because they found the cash register, Lisa's keys and her purse untouched inside. So police immediately began to secure the area and search in the general region for any signs of Lisa.

But sadly, nothing was uncovered near the shop. But police were uncovering some clues because they were quickly able to discover that the last purchase at the store that night took place at 8.20pm, which gave them a timeline. You know, it meant that Lisa had been abducted between 8.20 and 9.00pm. Lisa's mother reflected on the situation, stating, quote, The call from Lynn, her sister, Lisa is missing. Sophia has called to report Lisa's car, her coat, pocketbook, and artwork are at the store, but she is not. Fear strikes.

Lynn and I went to the store hoping it was a mistake. Due to Agawam being a fairly small town, word spread very fast on Lisa's disappearance and locals from the community set up search parties and just tried to cover as much ground as they possibly could, searching the banks of the nearby Westfield River. But unfortunately, days went by with no clues coming in Lisa's case and still no sign of Lisa.

Yeah, I mean, in investigators' minds and in the community's minds, this young girl, this young, or sorry, not girl, this young woman, this 24-year-old woman, just seemingly vanished from this shop that she was working at. They found signs of blood, but there is absolutely no sign of Lisa, what direction she possibly was headed in

or had been taken in. Right, which is where your mind goes, that she had to have been taken if there's blood, if all of her stuff was left there, her car's there and she's gone. Like somebody took her, but where is she? Is she still alive? Is she dead?

Yeah, and that's gotta be the worst feeling because, you know, if her car had been gone, it could have seemed like, oh, maybe she hurt herself at work and she, you know, took off to go seek medical attention, but the fact that there was blood there and her car was still there, her keys, her purse, everything, police knew that it was just bad. So days continued to pass with no more movements in the case. That was until four days after Lisa vanished, on April 19, 1992, which happened to be Easter Sunday.

18th, 1992, which happened to be Easter Sunday. Just after 2pm that day, a man was out in the woods on the edge of town, hiking with his dog, when he stumbled across the body of a deceased woman, about 3 miles from the card shop. And by the way, I did want to mention that some sources state that it was 1 mile or under a mile, some state that it was four miles, but regardless, it was within a few miles of the card shop. When detectives arrived to the scene that day, they immediately knew that they had found missing 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert. Her body was found just about 250 to 300 yards, or about 250 meters, off of Route 75, but again we just couldn't

find an exact location online. But either way, she was not left very far away at all. When examining her body, police discovered seven stab wounds on Lisa's body to her shoulder and throat, as well as a stab wound to her upper left leg. She had been wearing a light blue denim skirt soaked in blood and a white blouse that had been pulled down to her ankles, which is kind of a strange scene because like her top and her bottom were both pulled down her body to her ankles. Lisa also had defensive cuts to her hands that let investigators know that she had tried to fight off her attacker before her death.

And when her body was examined during her autopsy, it was confirmed that Lisa had been sexually assaulted. But the good thing here was that police were able to collect semen and other foreign DNA off of her clothes, which would later prove to be extremely helpful in solving Lisa's case. And they were also able to find tire tracks in the mud near Lisa's body that appeared to be pretty distinct, so they made a cast of the tracks and sent them in to be analyzed. So detectives are making like all the right moves here. Even back in 1992, before CODIS was operational for DNA matching and obviously they still could match the DNA to the perp if they had that person in their custody and had a DNA sample but still and taking the tire tracks was a good move too because

Police found that the tire was a Cooper tire and they were able to track down sales receipts from Vehicles with said tire in the area so they were going above and beyond trying to find this specific tire that had been on vehicles in the area, which is so crazy. Yeah, and actually they were able to find the person who owned a vehicle with those specific tires nearby and interview him. But this would prove to be no big help because the man in question provided photographic evidence that he and his buddies were four-wheeling in the area three days before her body was found, so he was out of town that week, meaning it was a dead lead.

Unfortunately, police didn't have any witnesses to the crime, which stunted the process of solving the case, and they also couldn't find the murder weapon. But let's kind of describe this street, Heath. So where the shop was, it was off Walnut Street or on Walnut Street. I say off because it's in this little plaza almost with a couple other shops. As we know, Alvin's sandwich shop was there. It doesn't look like it's there now. It looks like this restaurant took over probably.

It looks like a barbecue restaurant there now, but. Yeah. And then it looks like there is now like a massage place and a haircut place, but this is now. So we don't know what businesses were open at that time. Across the street, there is a liquor store, but yeah, this area looks fairly rural. There are some houses nearby, but this is not unlike, this isn't downtown or alongside a ton of other shops or a shopping block, you know?

Yeah, it's hard to explain because I totally get what you mean when you say rural, because it's rural, but it's not. Like, there's like fields on, you know, all four sides of this little plaza, big green fields. But yeah, in this little plaza, there's just like a few little shops there. So probably not a ton of people around

to be able to witness any said crime happening in that area. Yeah, but then there are some houses. These houses look kind of older. I mean, there's a neighborhood backed up right behind it, just up the street, and then a highway. And this is route 75, which is the same route that her body was found off of. So it makes sense that that is right there. But, but yeah, I'm not surprised that nobody saw this, this crime take place.

Completely agree. Well, weeks turned into months with no new clues, but of course, the community of Agawam was terrified that they had a killer on the loose who had yet to be caught. I mean, again, there's only about 27,000 people in this town. Luckily, local news outlets continued to cover the case and tips poured in from all over the country. Most being not credible, though, you though, as it kind of goes.

But police were so determined that they even sought the help of psychics, just hoping to glean any information that they possibly could. But this didn't really help. But there was another tip that came in shortly after her body was discovered that detectives thought could be relevant to the case. So basically, a woman called in saying that she had seen a Ford Bronco SUV in the vicinity of Lisa's remains around the same time of her murder. To detectives surprise, another woman called in claiming that her ex-military boyfriend

who had a fascination with knives and owned a Ford Bronco came home one day with blood on the inside of his truck, and the dashboard kicked in. So these two tips pretty much went hand in hand, and they're thinking, you know, is this our guy? Well, this was enough for police to jump into action to find the man who owned this Ford Bronco. And when they eventually did, the man said that he had sold the Ford Bronco to somebody who lived in New York. So they're like, damn it, like, this guy sold his SUV, now we gotta go track it down. And you know, obviously this was very frustrating, but detectives forged ahead to find this mystery

SUV. Because they're basically hoping that there's still some kind of DNA inside that they could connect with the case, because this guy wasn't claiming any guilt. Well upon looking into sales records that they obtained, they found out that after the purchase in New York, the car was sold to a man who lived in Russia. So police contacted Interpol and investigators in Russia to have the truck stripped and examined for any trace evidence

of blood or any other DNA. But just like the tire tracks from the previous clue, nothing was uncovered and it wasn't found to be a match, so basically police came up empty-handed yet again. And the man who originally owned this vehicle was then scratched off the list and detectives were back to square one. But they never gave up hope that Lisa's tragic murder would one day be solved. Especially since they had a bunch of evidence to go off of. So in 2016 they decided to take a closer look at some of their tips that they received back in 1992. You know, they're going back through these old files, they're thinking maybe there's going to be something in there that, you know, kind of piques their interest.

And when they did, there was one in particular that really stuck out to them. It was a tip from a woman who was convinced that her ex-husband had abducted and killed 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert. She explained that any time that there was a segment or an update about Lisa's case on the news, her husband would intently watch and even talk about it with his buddies at their home. So on its face, you know, that's not really weird. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah, I mean, we all watch crime shows and talk about cases with our friends,

but the way he did it just felt really off to her. Yeah, he was indescribably obsessed with the story. Exactly, right. But there was only one problem with this tip. The woman who called it in was known to have struggles with alcohol addiction and depression, so investigators didn't know how viable a lead this could be be and again, it wasn't too weird on its face You know and I get it investigators are thinking well Maybe she's just trying to get back at her husband or maybe she's you know making things up because I don't I don't really know

But obviously just because you have alcohol addictions and you have depression does not mean That a tip that you send in is not reliable. Exactly, I totally agree. But it was also noted that a man had called the investigators working on Lisa's case, and point blank asked if he was a suspect. Which like, why would anyone ever want to do that? Was he trying to involve himself? I mean, it was just really bizarre. Yeah, you don't really see that.

Yeah, so the detective replied that he couldn't divulge that kind of information, he's not gonna give that out, but that they would like to speak with him. Now, in turn, this man decided to consult his lawyer and then cut off all contact with police. And that man's name was Gary Schara. Here come the carrots making their way upfield, followed by the whole wheat bread. Over to the two dozen eggs! Sir, do you do this every time? Sorry, I've been a little excited ever since I got this BMO Toronto FC Cashback Mastercard.

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Crypto is finance for everyone. Everywhere. All the time. Kraken. See what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Kraken's registration details at kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer. Before that quick break, Heath told us that a guy named Gary Shara was, you know, calling into police and asking if he himself was a suspect in Lisa's case. And this is the same guy whose ex-wife called and said, I think he's involved. Yeah, he's basically just trying to figure out if he's a suspect or he's being looked at.

Right. And he kind of wasn't. Like, they had that tip. But again, like he'd said, it wasn't too strange to police at that time. So they're kind of thinking, oh, well, actually, if you think you're a suspect, maybe we should talk to you. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, like you said, I don't really know why investigators didn't decide to, like, look into this tip a little bit further back in 1992. I mean, when somebody's inquiring about being a suspect in a case that you're trying to solve,

it seems like you would maybe want to take the next step. And I get it. He lawyered up and didn't want to talk anymore. But I don't know, maybe they could have looked into it further. Yeah, I think and I wonder if they did and they just didn't have anything concrete, you know, obviously, or else they would have been able to talk to him even with a lawyer, but they didn't speak with him. This was in 1992 and then he kind of fell by the wayside. But as years continued to pass, police were kind of looking into these tips again.

So 14 years later in 2016, as they were looking over those old files again, the investigators were finding this tip pretty suspicious now that they're kind of looking at it from a different angle. So they felt it was necessary to speak with Gary and get a better feel for him as a person of interest. Now, there's a company that we actually discussed in our last episode on April Tinsley, Parabon Nano Labs.

They're doing big things in the world of DNA testing and they were able to create a composite for this case that would consist of details like eye color, hair color, et cetera, you know, essentially creating a snapshot. So a digital composite sketch. And around this time, Detective Sergeant Mark Fowl had begun to focus his attention on 11 possible suspects who matched the digital composite that was created from the DNA they had. Now, that advanced DNA testing was available.

But he didn't have DNA samples from all 11 men, and some of them wouldn't give it up voluntarily. So after taking Lisa's case to a grand jury, Detective Fowl was granted permission to essentially force these suspects to submit a sample because they matched the digital composite. And this was huge because now police had some ammunition to take the case a step further and see if any of these men was their killer. On Wednesday, September 13, 2017, in the 25th year of the investigation, detectives paid a visit to the two-bedroom apartment that Gary Schara was living in with a roommate,

located in West Springfield, Massachusetts, which is nine miles north of Agawam. And this was the second of eleven that they were looking into, so they'd already knocked on another guy's door before this. Now when they arrived, Gary's roommate stated that he wasn't home and that he would relay the message that investigators wanted to speak with him urgently. So that same night, Gary Schara decided that he would not come home, and instead he was going to go stay with his girlfriend, a woman named Noelle Delores, who found Gary's request to stay pretty odd because he usually didn't stay over on weekdays when he had to work. But he explained this away saying that traffic from a nearby late summer fair was pretty

bad and that he just didn't want to deal with the headache of, you know, trying to But he explained this away saying that traffic from a nearby late summer fair was pretty bad, and that he just didn't want to deal with the headache of, you know, trying to navigate it to get to work. So that night, everything seemed pretty normal. The couple watched TV and they had dinner, and then they went to bed because Noelle had work early the next morning. She was a nurse and she worked at a hospital. So when Noelle woke up to get ready for work, she noticed that Gary was just sleeping in,

so she gave him a kiss and then she headed out the door. But when she returned later that afternoon around 4.30pm, after a 10 hour shift at the hospital, she found some very disturbing discoveries. To start, Gary's wallet, watch, and a handful of coins were on her counter. But there was no sign of Gary or his vehicle. She thought, you know, this is pretty strange that he would leave without taking his wallet. So she tried to call him on his cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. Noelle, although disturbed by the scene and the lack of contact, was exhausted from a

really hard day at work, so she headed upstairs to take a shower. And when she finished, she came back downstairs where she discovered a clipboard sitting on her coffee table. And attached was a note. At first, Noelle believed that this letter was a breakup letter, kind of like a Dear John letter, until she opened it to reveal its true and shocking nature. The letter read, quote, I've been dreading the day I need to write this letter for almost as long as I can remember. First off, I love you.

I hope you never doubt that. Now the hard part. You are going to find out some awful things about me today. They will tell you I abducted, raped, and murdered a young woman approximately 25 years ago. It's true, all of it. I had no intention of killing her when I grabbed her, but events spun out of my control.

And in the eyes of the law, it is all the same. I have never regretted anything so much. I always knew one day it would catch up to me, and now it has. I received a text from my roommate last night that the state police were at the house with important papers for me. That will be a warrant to take DNA, and that will send me away for me. That will be a warrant to take DNA and that will send me away for life. I have never really been or felt normal. From a young age, I was fascinated by abduction and bondage. I could never keep it too far from my mind for long.

On that fateful day, I let myself do something terrible. I've never forgiven myself for that. I also never did anything of the like again. I hated what happened. I despised myself. I thought of turning myself in hundreds of times over the years, but I am truly a coward. Today, it will all end.

I will either take my own life or face the music as it were. I have no real useful advice to offer you except, no matter which course I choose, let me go. If I turn myself in, I will have confessed and accepted that I will live out my days in prison. Move on. Don't go looking for a lawyer to get me out.

I'm definitely not worth the time, the effort, or the money. Gee." And not trying to give him credit or anything, but we seldom learn the whole truth of cases or why they happen, so the fact that it's in writing here is incredible. But of course, once this got into police's hands, they'd want to find this guy and make him face that music. But that wasn't all the letter said. Nope, because there was actually more. Now, the next page of this letter was a will and testament, as well as an apology to the Ziegert family, that read, quote, deserve your forgiveness, but I hope knowing who I am and knowing I'm gone will bring you some closure

and peace. I am truly sorry. To whomever finds my body, I apologize for any psychological trauma incurred. Call Mass State Police. Thank you. GES. Gary Edward Schara." Now, his letter to the Ziegert family was sadly the shortest of the letters because all he did was say you know I'm sorry, but before it could get into their hands Noel had read all of this and you can just imagine how confused and absolutely devastated she was in that moment I mean it feels like you know the breakup letter would have been even better Yeah, this letter you know truly, but she would have been even better than this letter, you know? Truly. But she knew that she had to turn the letters over to police, and that is exactly what she did.

Noelle had known Gary since she was in high school, so before he murdered Lisa, and had even dated him during that time in 1987, when they both attended Long Meadow High, but their relationship just didn't last very long until they reconnected many years later. Gary's friends from high school described him as docile and the nicest guy I know. The last will and testament also included how his assets would be split up, including 30% each to his mother, brother, and girlfriend, and then 10% to his roommate back in West Springfield.

And he wrote, quote, all of this should be done after debts are settled, obviously. So looking back, it made sense that Gary was kind of obsessed with Lisa's case and talked about it with his buddies, because he did it, and he was probably anxious that the police were onto him So he stupidly called them and asked if he was a suspect, you know all of which in the end Led to him being caught. Yeah, exactly because I don't know if they would have really looked at him as being a Suspect had he not called in and asked if he was a suspect I mean they might have they might have gone back and looked at that tip from his ex-wife Said maybe we'll put him on the list

But or if he hadn't obsessed over in front of people that he knew enough for his ex-wife to think that that was suspicious So, you know, he definitely made a few mistakes, which is great because if he hadn't yeah, who knows if he ever would have gotten caught But let's jump back a bit to give you guys a little bit of background on Gary Shara. So as Heath mentioned, Gary and Noelle dated in high school, but it didn't last. And then a few years later, Gary met a woman named Joyce and they married pretty young and had a child together. So it was while they were together that Gary went out and decided to abduct and rape a woman that ended

up being Lisa, which ended in her murder. At some point the year after her death in 1993, Joyce and Gary got into an argument, wherein Joyce decided to leave Gary and take their son to Seattle, which led to an intense custody battle. And Gary remained in touch with the Longmeadow Police Department over the years, claiming that his ex-wife had abducted their child, which led to an arrest warrant being issued for Joyce. So again, Gary is living in Longmeadow during the time that Lisa was murdered, but in 1999,

he actually moved to Agawam, which by the way is only about 10 minutes from Longmeadow. And then the following year in 2000, the charges against Joyce were dropped. And I gotta say, it feels like a dumb thing to do to move to the town where you murdered somebody, where they are actively searching for you. Yeah, you would think that he would move, you know, across state lines or across the country or something. But he didn't. So then in 2001, Joyce pressured the Aguam police to take another look into Gary

about his involvement in the Lisa Ziegert murder. And this was her second time submitting a tip about him. When investigators reached out to Gary again, he decided to finally grant them an interview, which he did a few months later in 2002. Detectives noted that he was polite and cordial, but said that he refused to give them a DNA sample, which obviously looks bad. So this really piqued investigators' interest, and they kept him on their radar. Years later, he and Noelle rekindled an old flame which happened just two years before

the letters in 2015. But quickly into the new relationship, Noelle noticed some things about Gary that seemed off. For example, one day Gary helped a woman in a wheelchair who had fallen down, but when the police arrived, Gary was nowhere to be found even though he didn't do anything wrong. Then another time he and Noel attended the Boston Marathon one year and Gary was extremely anxious, especially in the presence of security and he refused to pass through a police checkpoint for this event. What's even crazier is that

Noel's brother was actually one of the detectives or one of the FBI agents who was working on the Boston Marathon bombing and she remembers Gary saying, oh like I've got a lookout for your brother like kind of like a joke or whatever but she noticed that every time Gary was around her brother he was nervous and anxious. So crazy. Yeah so crazy so she's picking up all these little signs and tips. And after Noelle handed over the letters from Gary to police, she was questioned for several hours and she was asked hundreds of questions. But the main question that they wanted to know was, where was Gary?

Noelle responded, quote, He probably committed suicide and is hanging from a tree somewhere. Well, she wasn't that far off, because when Detective Fowl caught wind that Gary admitted to killing Lisa, his first task was to locate him, which they did by tracking the GPS from his phone, and doing so, they found that Gary was in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, which is about a 40 minute drive southeast of Agawam.

Shortly after 10pm on September 16th, 2017, detectives located Gary's black Honda Civic in the parking lot of the Johnson Memorial Hospital. Now, they noticed that Gary wasn't inside the vehicle, but he did leave a suicide note behind. So again, another letter. And with that, detectives felt that if Gary's car was in the parking lot of the hospital, maybe he was inside. So they checked the hospital, and to their surprise, they found that Gary had checked himself in for treatment.

So it turns out that Gary had swallowed a handful of ibuprofen trying to take his own life, but after doing so, he was afraid of dying, and in turn he checked himself into the hospital and was placed into the critical care unit. Upon finding him, detectives placed him under arrest for the 1992 murder of Lisa Ziegert. Police then collected DNA samples from a toothbrush of Gary's back at his apartment and as you guys can imagine the DNA was an exact match. When 48 year old Gary Shara who was about 23 when he murdered Lisa was discharged from the hospital he was then escorted to the Hampton County Correctional Center where

he would stay until his trial. Lisa's mother couldn't understand why Gary had murdered her daughter, stating quote, We will just never know. I don't know why he chose her. Did she remind him of someone? Was he angry about something else and just walked into the store? All the girls that Lisa went places with said that they never even remembered seeing him before.

While awaiting trial, Noelle worked up the courage to face Gary and visit him while he was incarcerated. She reflected on her time that she spent with a man that she trusted and had no idea was truly a monster, saying quote, He went to jail and at that point part of me was still thinking about him as a boyfriend. I couldn't make that change in my head that he wasn't. But during her visit she became angry that she had been lied to and unloaded on Gary, screaming quote, you lied to me and everybody for 25 years.

I'm going to come back someday and you're going to tell me why you did this. You owe me that. Not only do I deserve it, but everyone else who's a part of this nightmare that you've created deserves it. The Ziegert family will never have their daughter back. She had her whole life ahead of her. And in response, Gary just stared like a moron at Noelle, not saying a single word. Lisa's family was seeking the death penalty for Gary Shara during his arraignment in December 2017, where he pleaded not guilty. Yeah, he pleaded not guilty of the charges against him, which included first degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated

rape, even though he had previously willingly admitted to it. And that just lets me know that this guy is a huge piece of shit because he already admitted to it before and like who are you trying to fool here? It's crazy. So he maintained his innocence until his trial, which took place in September of 2019. During the trial, dozens of Lisa's family and friends packed the courtroom where Gary changed his plea from not guilty to guilty again.

Lisa's brother stated, quote, I recognize that we never know where life's path might take us, but Lisa was never given the opportunity she deserved to walk her path. Her opportunity was taken from her due to acts of violence that have taken more than 25 years to receive the appropriate consequences. On Wednesday, September 25, 2019, Gary was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lisa's mother said of the sentencing, quote, four days of not eating, drinking only coffee, heart pounding and heaviness in my chest, which lasted for months and watching my husband

George try to deal with what was happening. This is my reality still. She's gone and I'll never hold her, talk with her, laugh with her, or share important occasions with her. The sentence for first degree murder is life without parole. This is very fair when you consider that in this case, Gary Sharra has already had his parole. He walked free for 25 years, 5 months, and 10 days.

Lisa's mom Dee Ziegert said after the trial, quote, My first reaction to the letter, I thought, that is absolutely frightening, just frightening. And it's amazing that it didn't happen again. But I'm glad he wrote it, because it's him saying I did it, and him writing it, and him signing it. Gary spent over two decades as a free man, living a fairly unremarkable life. He hopped from job to job, working in the restaurant business, as well as a rental car agency at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut.

He had never been arrested, which made it hard for detectives to catch up with him, even though they had his DNA, and had entered it into CODIS. Sadly, Gary's ex-wife Joyce passed away in 2014, and he and Joyce's son remained in Seattle, living with extended family. As for Lees' family, they felt relieved in some ways that their daughter's murderer had been captured, and would spend the rest of his life in prison, but they also felt a little let down. Dee said quote, it's like, okay, so what do I do now? I can't fight anymore for justice for Lisa. Because now we have that, but for so long, it consumed a lot of our lives, and mine in

particular because I was the face of our fight. But now now we're thinking we'll finally go on a trip somewhere because we won't have to worry anymore that we'll get some important phone call and have to turn around and come back. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this. And also, I'm just so glad that they were able to go back and look at those original

tips because like we mentioned before, had they not done that, Gary Schara might still be a free man to this day. Yeah. So thank God Lisa's family got some sort of closure and now they can kind of finally rest from all this stress of this nightmare. Could not agree more. Thank you again to Megan for recommending this case. Thank you to each and every one of you for listening.

And as we are nearing the end of March, we will see you again in April, which is next Tuesday. Yeah. And for all of you guys that do celebrate Easter, happy Easter to all of you guys and I hope you guys enjoy a really good meal with your family and your friends. Alright guys so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

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