Small Town Murder - #532 - Battle Of The Neighbors - Crockery Township, Michigan

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

This week, in Crockery Township, Michigan, a rural area is set on edge because of the constant fighting between neighbors. This fighting centers around one woman, who seems to take great joy ...in antagonizing the people around her. She blows snow into driveways, gives elderly ladies the finger, and even curses the cops out, after she calls them. It's no surprise that someone ends up dead, but how it happens is quite the shocker! A wild tale!!Along the way, we find out that you don't need to bury a body, if it's snowing hard enough, that as soon as you're standing over a nude corpse, you've done something crazy, and that you aren't allowed to kill someone, just because you really, really don't like them!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.comGo to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:26 Try it free at ConstantContact.ca. From Wondering comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? Paul can do it. I'm your host, Brandon Jinx Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:00:48 In the upcoming episode of Killer Psyche, we will be diving deep into the unfolding case of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuerman. Follow Killer Psyche wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Killer Psyche and more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay, choo-choo. Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petragallo.
Starting point is 00:01:34 I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, for joining us so much. All aboard the murder train. Let's do this. Pulling away from the station, We have a wild story for you today about people that just don't like each other and just can't get along and it is fun stuff. We'll get to all that very quickly though. Head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com. Get
Starting point is 00:01:55 your tickets. Live shows. Kansas City. October. You are up next, Kansas City. It's a big giant show. One of our biggest that we'll ever have. So get in there, get your tickets. Oklahoma City is sold out the night after, so can't go to that one. Get your tickets for the rest of the year too, because they're almost gone. So get them also, get your tickets to the virtual live show. It is apparently the night before Halloween. We thought it was on Halloween, that's what we've been advertising. It's apparently on the 30th, which is a Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:02:24 We don't know why. Whatever, but there it is, that's what it is. So it's gonna be great, we're gonna be in costumes, just like a regular live show. Oh shit. But you're in your living room, or wherever, and you can watch it on Halloween night if you want, because you can watch it for two weeks
Starting point is 00:02:37 afterwards as much as you want. So do whatever you want with it. Shut up and give me murder.com. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all the bonus material sure all you have to be is five dollars a month or above And you get so much shit the price of a cup of coffee will get you Hundreds of back episodes immediately upon subscription that you've never heard before bonus stuff new ones every other week one crime in sports one small Town murder this week, which you're gonna get for crime and sports. you don't have to be a sports fan at all. We're going to talk about hot air balloon disasters.
Starting point is 00:03:09 Let's do it. God damn. It's the surprising thing. They really picked up once power lines became a thing. Weird, right? That's the least attractive mode of transportation on the planet. Seems like the most dangerous to me. Yeah. I'd rather ride a hipp ride a hippo I think that would be safer probably and then for small town murder We're gonna do talk about this documentary that has messed both of us up for over ten years now It's called there's something wrong with Aunt Diane and it is unbelievably weird documentary I'd also rather ride a hippo on roller skates than ride with Aunt Diane. Yes
Starting point is 00:03:42 Would you rather do ride in a hot air balloon or with Aunt Diane? That's the question. Both are a problem. We will solve it this week on Patreon. Patreon.com slash Crime in Sports. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. So do that. Listen to Crime in Sports, by the way.
Starting point is 00:03:58 Also listen to your stupid opinions because it's goddamn hilarious. That said, I think it's time everybody. Let's go. To sit back, let's all clear the lungs, take a deep breath, arms to the sky, and let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this everybody. Okay.
Starting point is 00:04:19 Let's go on a trip, shall we? Let's do this. We are going to Crocory Township, Michigan. Crocory. Crocory, like bowls and shit. Crocory. Betty Crocory. Yeah, Crocory Township, Michigan,
Starting point is 00:04:33 which is like one of those big towns, it's a township that has a bunch of little towns in it. Oh. And the town that will actually, the small, small town we'll be talking about is Nunica. N-U-N-I-C-A, which is in there. And Nunica only has about 350 people in it. So, very small. This area is in western Michigan, about 30 minutes outside of Grand Rapids, and about an hour 10 to Kalamazoo
Starting point is 00:04:59 Township, which was our last Michigan episode, Sibling Death Rivalry. I remember that one. That was fun. This is in Ottawa County, Ottawa like Canada. Population of the whole township is about 4,500 people, 4581. So that's all small. And then Nunica is small too. Median household income here is $81,161, which is above the national average over 10,000 median home cost very low in comparison to the rest of the country two hundred thirty five thousand eight hundred dollars, so Not bad. You can live a decent life here Now the name nunica means pottery or earthenware Sure, which is interesting because then it's crockery township which crockery is Native work. It's Yeah, an Indian name.
Starting point is 00:05:45 The Ottawa tribe was here. So I guess at or near the mouth of the creek, of the Nunica Creek there, there was a lot of quantities of Indian pottery were found there. That's why it became Crocory Township and all that, which caused it to be called crockery creek, not crockery creep. Here a crockery creep. Just fucking whacking it to bowls and plates and shit.
Starting point is 00:06:12 Having a nunica all the time. Yeah, nunicas. Having a nunica. So then they kept the word nunica and they did that. So the first European settlers in the area were French Canadians sure it was a father and a son I guess who passed through this area I'm sure it's always trappers. Then they found zinc here in 1858. Oh, yeah, once you find zinc forget about it I don't even know what you use zinc for but apparently it's something From a to zinc yeah I don't even know what you use zinc for, but apparently it's something. Ah, those pills. They put it in centrum. From A to zinc, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:47 Old people pills from commercials from the 80s. Yeah. All these old people need it, so we gotta mine it. Now in 1872, Nunica was officially incorporated, which it says Nunica is taken from the Ottawa word for zinc on another website. So it's either, I don't know what it's the Ottawa word for zinc on another website. So it's either, I don't know what it's the Ottawa word for, we have no idea.
Starting point is 00:07:09 There was about a thousand people in this area in 1880. By 1924, no more zinc left. Everything's gone. We've exhausted our zinc. So there was a big influenza outbreak in 1927 in this area that killed almost 800 people from this town. If only they had more zinc. There's a lot. Yeah, maybe that would have helped. Maybe they needed more zinc. I'm not sure. More
Starting point is 00:07:33 zinc in their diet. Maybe Centrum could have solved this whole problem. We don't even know about it. So after that, the population declined. The 1930 census showed there was about 5,000 people here. declined, the 1930 census showed there was about 5,000 people here. Then in 1935, about a third of Nunica was destroyed by a fire, which was the great Nunica fire, they called it. Oh, it's got a name. It's got a name because it burned down a lot of the town. That's a big fire. And so badly that people just left. They were just like, well,
Starting point is 00:08:00 They didn't even come back. Town's all fucked. Just like the zinc, this town is all fucked out. Yeah, we're going now So they said it's a speculated that it began when the Nunica train station caught on fire when it was struck by lightning so either way It doesn't matter because Tons of shit was destroyed Also a bunch of farmland was destroyed. They never rebuilt the train station. They just went well I guess no more trains here.
Starting point is 00:08:25 It was a curse. Don't do it. You just keep driving by now. No more stops. And it never recovered from the fire and went into a freefall. By 1950, there was only a thousand people there. Oh my God. There was 5,000 in 1930. So this fire just destroyed. People just left. They're like, well, this town sucks now. By 1957, the town was unincorporated like now They just they disincorporated themselves And currently there's about 350 people left there, so I'm real. Yeah, it's it's rough man
Starting point is 00:08:57 So reviews of this town there is no reviews of Nunica or crockery township But I did find reviews of the Turks in which is the restaurant reviews of Nunica or Crocery Township. They don't want to talk about it. But I did find reviews of the Turks Inn, which is the restaurant there in Nunica. What have they got there? 11139 Cleveland Avenue in Nunica. Here's five stars from Christine. Service and food were wonderful. Our drinks were never empty. Food was so good and portions were perfect.
Starting point is 00:09:23 Highly recommend the bacon candy. The bacon candy melts in your mouth. A lot of people make these candied bacon things now. I live about two hours away but definitely going to take a trip back just to eat here. Oh wow. I'm going to go way out of their way here. Here's one star from Scott. Cold crappy house made chips. Hell yeah. Good dip though. Angry, rude, unfriendly, unhelpful bar staff. Nice to the owner's son though.
Starting point is 00:09:53 They are? Is this a British person? The french fries were chips? They're from San Francisco. No, good dip. So I think they're dip for chips. Chips and dip. But they're saying the cold chips.
Starting point is 00:10:04 Like who wants hot chips? Yeah, I don't know. I guess if they're fresh, I don't and dip. The bar- But they're saying the cold, cold chips. Like who wants hot chips? Yeah, I don't know. I guess if they're fresh, I don't fucking know. I don't need hot. I'll take them out of a bag. I don't give a shit. Yeah. What if you ever had hot legs?
Starting point is 00:10:12 You can make them three months ago and ship them in a giant truck across the country. Yes, who's the- I'll love them. The bartender was so unfriendly, I didn't order an entree. Lousy hospitality, lousy experience." And then Pat says one star, this restaurant doesn't like people in wheelchairs. You come in, they turn
Starting point is 00:10:32 you around, roll you right out the door. You're coming in your chair and they're like, fuck you! Send you right down the hill outside of the joint. Enter to a chorus of booze they have no accessible entrance or ramps completely illegal talk to the owners and managers they always make some excuse of why they have it you know they only made those laws like 40 years ago so I it's been a while guys you could 85 cheese you could probably put a piece of goddamn plywood up the one step step there on the side and make a fucking ramp out of it, put a couple of rails on it.
Starting point is 00:11:08 Things to do here, outdoor shit is number one. That's the thing. Outdoor shit, kayaking, the creek, outside shit, the woods. Then official things, we have the Nunica Picnic slash Carnival, which is going to happen here. That's at the St. Luke Lutheran Church in Nunica. And it doesn't look like there are a lot going on. It says it's Carnival time. On Facebook, 26 people were interested. And this hasn't happened already, so that tells you a lot.
Starting point is 00:11:40 Feels like it was a bomb. Yeah. You're invited to a community picnic hosted by the St. Luke Lutheran Church. This free event is open to everyone. The theme is Carnival in all capitals. Fill your plate with roasted pork, baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese, rolls, drinks and desserts.
Starting point is 00:11:57 While I'm on board for that. That sounds good. It's all your typical accoutrement of a picnic. Sounds good. Games, games, games. Kid-friendly activities. A duck pond. It's not your typical accoutrement of a picnic. Sounds good. Games, games, games. Kid-friendly activities. A duck pond, which they didn't, it's not for this event. They just have a pond with ducks in it.
Starting point is 00:12:10 It's already there. And it's like tree to climb. Like yeah, you didn't put it there for the event. Bounce house will keep your little ones busy all afternoon. Have your face painted by a local artist. All are welcome. And then there's also the beer wine and food tasting fundraiser with Midwest dueling pianos. No information except tickets are
Starting point is 00:12:33 forty dollars a couple or twenty five dollars each. Good Christ! What? There better be a lot of beer and wine and food tasting going on here for free. Those dueling pianos better be great. They better be fucking awesome. So that said, let's talk about some murder because Let's do it. This is wild, man. Okay, let's talk about a lady, shall we? Lady, she is Sheila K. Luke Bong. B-O-N-G-E. Bongo Bong. She's born, Sheila is born October 29th, 1958. Her parents are Charles and Leela,
Starting point is 00:13:09 and she grew up kind of in this area, in this kind of the crockery township area. She graduated from Coopersville High School, which is nearby. At some point she is married and divorced. That's where the Bunga came from. Her birth name is Sheila K. Luke, and then the bong comes in there. She'll have three kids here. They're adult kids by the time we talked about her. They're adult kids. She's got grandkids. She's got great grandkids at 59. Pete Slauson Is that right? Chris Which is early for great grandkids. Pete Slauson No kidding. Chris Everybody's popping them out early there. She worked for a few years at Fountainview Estates
Starting point is 00:13:48 as a certified nurse's aide, and then health problems made her have to stop working at the facility here. She's had a couple of run-ins with the law, nothing serious. She has had a misdemeanor marijuana charge in the fucking 90s, who cares, like alcohol shit, probably a DUI in 1991
Starting point is 00:14:09 or something, nothing crazy, she's, you know, whatever. But in 2005, Sheila moves into the neighborhood we're gonna talk about. This neighborhood, it's got its own little road. Basically there's a main road and then you go down this other road that isn't maintained by the road and then you go down this other road that isn't maintained by the city, like the residents maintain this road
Starting point is 00:14:28 and it's got some houses and everybody has like one acre parcels of land and they put a house on it. They have houses where it's the two houses next to each other and they kind of share a driveway. You know what I mean? It's like there's a, not share, but the driveways are right next to each other
Starting point is 00:14:44 type of thing in the middle Of them that kind of deal So just to give you an idea because it'll come up big time later So she moves into a one are a one acre parcel of land. It's it's three miles south of Nunica And these are side-by-side home sites that are surrounded by farmland So that's how it works. So basically they said they have long graveled easements to their one story homes. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:10 So that's how this works. Now this place is, it snows feet here. It's near the lake and this area is known for really heavy lake effect snow. I mean it's constant all winter too. Now her fiance owns the property but doesn't live here. I don't get it. He's a long-haul trucker, her boyfriend. His name is Wayne Holman and nobody really sees him much. It's just really her at the property.
Starting point is 00:15:41 So I don't know if he's got another place he stays and keeps her here or whatever the fucking deal is. But he bought it in 2005, like in the assessor's office. He's the one who owns the joint, but she lives there. Now above Sheila's front door, she's got a sign that reads home sweet country home. And then she's got bunting everywhere. Like her team just made the playoffs. You know know those are the rounded arc flag things that you see hanging during playoff games and another one she has a wooden sign that says this is an American home run Japanese style what take your fucking shoes yes please take off your shoes and stay and stay a while it's a poor it's obviously a poem. Very nice. So in 2009, Sheila gets a new neighbor, that next door neighbor. They're not going to get along very well,
Starting point is 00:16:31 Herne, this guy and Sheila. Yeah. Got your shoes on all the time. Look at him going in the house with his shoes on. This is Wendell Earl Popejoy Jr. That is Popejoy, one word. One word, Popejoy Jr. and that is Popejoy, one word. One word, Popejoy. Joy of the Pope. Yeah. He's about four years older than her and he moves onto the adjacent property with his
Starting point is 00:16:51 long-time girlfriend Rhonda here and he's about a five foot eight, 300 pound guy. Hell yeah. He's a little ball of a man and he's known as being a very calm, real even-keeled, real helpful guy. Everybody in the neighborhood likes him. He helps you with things, he's a good guy, he's a former Air Force mechanic and he at his current job was fixing anesthesia equipment at Grand Rapids Spectrum Hospital and also fixing motorized toys at the DeVos Children's Hospital as well.
Starting point is 00:17:27 Okay. So he's a maintenance guy at the hospital. Mechanically in kind. Yeah. Very good with a wrench. Absolutely. Yeah. And you have to be very, to be an Air Force mechanic, I know a guy who ran an Air Force
Starting point is 00:17:38 mechanics team and you have to be so fucking anal to do that because- Oh, diligent. They have to get inside the jet engine basically and they have to check every fan blade and go over it with a fucking tiny flashlight and it's crazy. So you have to really be on top of your shit. To be a big fella to do that is pretty impressive. He probably wasn't 300 pounds 30, 40 years ago when he was in the Air Force because he's in his late 50s now. I'm sure he put on a couple of pounds. Like a neighbor said if
Starting point is 00:18:04 he saw a neighbor bailing up feed, he would help them. When he saw a neighbor hanging shutters, he'd just come over and start helping you do it. Is that right? It's a nice guy. Yeah, just, oh, let me grab that for you, that kind of guy. Whenever people were arguing with each other,
Starting point is 00:18:18 they said he's a mediator. He's always the guy that tries to be the intermediary of, well, there's gotta be some common ground you guys can find. A calm guy basically. Now he's got a two stall detached garage and all of that kind of thing next to it. Snow shovels out there and his sign reads an old toad lives here with his ladybug. They all got these cutesy wooden country signs going on an old an old crow and his cute So
Starting point is 00:18:48 Wendell and Sheila are don't get along Sheila doesn't get along with anybody first of all no nobody in this neighborhood Anyway, the only people she seems to get along with are like her mother and her siblings. Everybody else hates her Tons of complaint dozens of police interactions because of neighbors with Sheila All of them stemming from something to do with Sheila most of the time she calls other times people call on her so in 2016 there was at least 13 police interactions more than one among that at least 13 police interactions, more than one a month. What? That's fucking crazy.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Every four weeks she's talking to the cops? And wanting them to come out, and it's always little things. One was there are ducks trespassing on my property. Ducks. Ma'am. You can't control ducks. They go where they go. Like they're ducks.
Starting point is 00:19:42 You don't give it five minutes. They're going to go. They'll go all the way to fucking Alabama in the winter like they just take off. Yeah. I mean it's crazy. That's crazy. Um three of her chickens died or three of somebody's chickens died and it was a questionable how they died there was a they thought they were poisoned. She thinks they're gonna solve the chicken homicide. The chicken murders I guess we're gonna do a chicken autopsy To put them up on the slab take them apart. Yeah You know, that'd be fun for the wishbone. Anyway, it's
Starting point is 00:20:16 This one's missing its gizzard rabbit poaching Somebody said they killed a rabbit. It's all of this type of shit most of these beefs though centered on the gravel driveway to their properties. Okay, and who owns it? Who has access to it, who's on it, who's not on it, and also snow blowing. Who's snow blowing onto somebody else's shit? That's another big deal. So there's complaints. These are complaints that the cops were called for. Stakes were wrongly placed along the driveway. Yeah. That's steak, they called the cops
Starting point is 00:20:46 because someone put steaks in the wrong place in the driveway. The cops for that. Imagine getting there. It'd be like, I'm gonna pull a steak out and I'm gonna beat whoever the fuck doesn't just fix this and let me go away. I swear to God.
Starting point is 00:20:58 I'm gonna smack whoever called with this steak. You got about 10 seconds before I start hitting people with this shit, so that's what you got. This is why I'm not a cop. Because I know I can't deal with people like that. That stupidity? Yeah. Why are you calling me?
Starting point is 00:21:13 I'd be so mad. Why am I here? I can't write a ticket to a chicken. No, or a rabbit or a duck. What am I supposed to do? Cuff the ducks and take them away? What's his ID number to write down? And what are we doing? You can't let them, like you can leash them
Starting point is 00:21:29 like they're dogs or something. Another one was about a semi-truck obstructing the shared easement, which I think that was, her fiance was home and he parked, he just parked where no one could get into their driveway. He just parked in the gravel. He just parked where no one could get into their driveway. He just parked in this the gravel a
Starting point is 00:21:52 Handful of them enjoyed are involved Wendell and Rhonda and Sheila, but a lot of them were for other neighbors There's tons of neighbors here that have problems They have a lot of back-and-forth complaints with another couple at the end of the entrance the driveways entrance Some of these are videotaped and I'm gonna show you one of of them and people can hear a little bit of it because it's fucking you can see exactly what these people are dealing with. Like a ring doorbell camera? No no no, a guy with a video camera out there filming her and narrating it as he does it which makes it even better. So she would snow blow her driveway and point the thing to shoot the snow into other people's driveways who have already shoveled and snowblowed which I will fucking kill you for that.
Starting point is 00:22:28 I will strangle you for that shit. Absolutely. I'll put you through that blower. The worst feeling is when you shovel the end of the driveway and then the plow comes and puts another foot and a half of snow in front of your driveway. If that guy slowed down, he'd be dead as if I'd beat him to death with my shovel. Normally, hey, he's doing his job, whatever whatever you son of a bitch now. I got a Sommie do you see me? Oh, I feel like they're driving it with a big smile on their face
Starting point is 00:22:54 Well not done shoveling yet. Are you pal all right there? See you later? It's almost like you might as well go honk, honk afterwards just to. So. Hope he's got earbuds listening to this show while we get to us, man. Oh shit. So Mark Muirer, I guess his name is M-E-U-R-E-R,
Starting point is 00:23:18 he's one of the neighbors, him and his wife, and they're fighting all the time. Mark has a civil suit pending in 2017 against Sheila and her boyfriend over the access to the easement. It was they actually in May of 2014, the Murers sought a order of protection against Sheila and the judge did not grant it, wouldn't grant it. The judge said this is a property dispute and wouldn't grant it. So a year later, May 29, 2015, another judge also rejected protection orders for Beth,
Starting point is 00:23:57 for Beth, who is Mark's wife, against Sheila because Beth claimed that Sheila threatened that she was quote, out for blood and told her I have a gun Okay, she said I'm out for blood. I got a gun. She said can I get an order of protection? They said nah property dispute some neighbors shit here and after one incident in 2014 Wendell Pope joy wrote to the judge calling Sheila, as in support of the other two, calling Sheila, quote, mean, nasty, and socially unacceptable. Which sounds like, you know, part of our show.
Starting point is 00:24:36 He asked for her to be punished, and she, the judge, did nothing. So let me show you. So here we go. I'm going to show you this video and show everyone. Let's look. This is somebody did this with a handy cam. Yeah. This is Mark or their phone, whatever the fuck. This is Mark and Mark is going to have Sheila on the property. Let me turn up the volume here and you can kind of see how this goes here see she's on the hay line
Starting point is 00:25:18 hassling and harassing me. she turns around and slaps her ass at him. She's giving him the finger. Watch. This is crazy. She'll run out and dance into the field. There she goes out and... What is she doing? Watch, she's dancing.
Starting point is 00:25:39 Why? Giving him the finger. Just to piss him off because this is getting ridiculous it is sir I agree with you ridiculous. But she does that. Like that's a, you could see there, there is, can't even mow my hay without being harassed. He says, but there's a clear differential or differentiation of property lines there of where he mowed and she's going out looking at him filming and dancing and giving him
Starting point is 00:26:24 the finger and slapping her ass on his property just to go fuck you you can't do anything I'll do whatever I want. What is that? She's an asshole is what that's called. That's the technical medical term I believe. She's trespassing. She's a duck at this point.
Starting point is 00:26:39 Why is she doing that? I don't get it. To piss people off? Is it the noise of the mower that she doesn't like? No, she has to mow her shit too. Everybody has to do all this stuff. She does shit all the time. Deputies on various occasions described Sheila as quote seething with anger. This is the cops when they arrive when she calls them. Seething with anger, extremely hostile, and also irrational and hard to understand. Hard to understand.
Starting point is 00:27:09 She calls the cops, they show up, she starts going bat shit crazy, they're like, we don't even know what the fuck she's talking about. She's just ranting and raving and being irrational. One deputy wrote about a November 3rd, 2015 incident, not sure if she even remembers why she called 911. Meaning she's not sure that she remembers. She said, I don't know why I called, but I'm very mad and I hate these people. Something's wrong with her. A little bit.
Starting point is 00:27:35 A deputy wrote on March 22nd, 2016 that he was told by Sheila to quote, fuck off. Yeah, did he do it? And to quote, get the fuck off my property. Terrific. And then the deputy wrote, this behavior from Sheila is common during police contact. So it's not just the neighbors, it's even she calls the cops, they come out, they don't want to be there, and then she yells at them and tells them to fuck off and go away. It's worse than they don't want to be.
Starting point is 00:28:05 There's nothing they can do. No. No law was broken. Nope. I mean they have to answer a call, but after a while I think you could be able to tell people, listen, if you call and you don't say that someone is dead or dying, I'm not coming. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:18 Because this is crazy. You're wasting resources. You're wolfing right now. Or start billing her. That would be the other thing. That's what we should do. If you make calls that shouldn't be made, here's a fucking bill. There you go.
Starting point is 00:28:30 I'm not paying for that. Why do we have to pay for that? Because this fucking lady's crazy. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a loving wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is the Kill List,
Starting point is 00:28:57 a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. He turns to a journalist for help. That's me, Carmela. Kill List is a true story of how one writer uncovers a global conspiracy, taking matters into his own hands to warn those whose lives are in danger. And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:29:28 You can binge all episodes of Kill List early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand Zealand lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little known British territory, called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still emerge. It just happens to all of us.
Starting point is 00:30:01 I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific Island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery
Starting point is 00:30:32 Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. So September 2017, a complaint against Sheila was put into the court for a personal order of protection. Another one from another neighbor Complaint by a this is the mures here not Pope Joy not Wendell post joy listed examples of alleged harassment Including obscene language and gestures the protection order was denied and they noted insufficient evidence of immediate and irreplaceable harm So you haven't proved that you're in harm's
Starting point is 00:31:06 way basically. Was that Wendell or Mark? This is Mark. Mark that made the video. That's Mark. Now the judge said quote, the judge can't order police to be nice. It can't order people to be respectful. What the court is particularly disinclined to do is to be the personal police officer for your neighborhood disputes. Exactly. That's what they told the person trying to get the order of protection against Sheila. So basically, I'm not going to get involved in your neighborhood bullshit. Which seems a bit irresponsible after this. November 2017, Donnetta Gould, who's 81 years old at this time by the way, nice little old lady, she drove, I guess Sheila drove past Donnetta Gould while Gould was walking. She's
Starting point is 00:31:56 81 and takes a daily walk, you know, to keep the blood flow and so it doesn't stop and she just dies. Apparently Sheila lowered her window and said quote, quote, hey bitch, I hope you fall out and break your hip. Which is both mean and hilarious at the same time. So Gould here, the 81 year old said she gave her the finger. She gave Sheila the finger I would love to see an 81 year old woman be like fuck you Sheila. That's hilarious number one and Gould said it's even and then bong gave her two fingers back. So, you know, I'll give you both of our Donetta said even now it's hard to believe that she did that. That's just the way she was She flipped people off all the time just buy one did that. That's just the way she was. She flipped people off all the time. Just buy one, get one. That's it. So, uh, Beth also, this is Beth Muir, Mark's wife. He said, she said this quote, she was a horrible mean person to me, uh, saying that
Starting point is 00:32:57 Sheila would routinely call her vile names and scream at her for unprovoked reasons. She said that the neighbors talked jokingly with the police about the possibility that maybe Sheila would quote, yell herself into a heart attack. And they all said, hopefully that'd be good. Even the cops were like, I mean, that'd be great. Yeah, Jesus, we'd have to stop coming out here. That'd be terrific. For the 911 sake.
Starting point is 00:33:21 So the easement is the big issue here. Yeah, that's the easement is I mean, there's a million others, obviously, fucking ducks. You don't want to have ducks walking around, you know, that, lost ducks. But there's not. Common places, those are tough. That's going to be difficult. So I was just
Starting point is 00:33:37 watched this interrogation of this lady in Florida who, like condos, and there's a common area for the condos. Nobody owns it. You only... Some of those people have a quad drive too, where you got a driveway for four people. This is just, this is a common grassy area at a condo. You own like your doorstep and that's it. Everything else you don't own.
Starting point is 00:33:58 So these kids are playing and this old lady would kept, not even that old, but she kept like yelling at these kids. It was three kids. They were like six to 12, the brothers and sisters. And she would yell at them and call them fucking names and tell them to get off the, she'd call the cops on them. The cops would come out and go, you want me to what? Arrest children for playing in the grass?
Starting point is 00:34:17 They go, well, they're just screaming. And they go, well, kids scream while they play. They're outside. Like who cares? You know what I mean? Anyway, this lady at one point, one day, she like snapped on these kids. She like called them the N-word and took their iPad
Starting point is 00:34:30 and threw it and broke it and then went in her apartment or went in her condo. So then the kid's mother comes, knocks on the door like three times, and this lady just shot the mother through the door and killed her. Wow. Killed her. Mother of three, dead on the door.
Starting point is 00:34:44 Hate crime. And no, no, no, no. She said self-defense. I was terrified she was going to break the door and killed her. Wow! Killed her, mother of three, dead on the door. Hate crime. And no, no, no, she said self-defense. I was terrified she was going to break the door down. And the cop in the interrogation goes, you see her like outside, like, you know, bench pressing, lifting weights? Is she like a, you know, do you know she's like a, that's what I mean. Do you see her out there like, you know, training? And she's like, no. And then she goes, well, how do you expect her to come through a bolted door then? What are you talking about? Like, it was ridiculous, but it was a similar thing. It just went back and forth and escalated to the point where somebody decided they were going to quote, stand their ground and then you have problems.
Starting point is 00:35:16 So apparently Mark and Beth here were suing Sheila to assert ownership of the driveway easement past the Pope, Joy and Bong residences. Okay, the rest of that. They claim control, the Muir family there. Apparently the Muirs bought the acreage surrounding the homes and the easement in 2012. So they own it. Like the assessor's office will tell them they own it
Starting point is 00:35:44 or whatever, but Sheila's not having any of that shit, so there has to be a big legal battle here. Now Wendell's fiance here, Pope Joy's fiance, Rhonda Clark said, quote, she said, we better find another way to come into the driveway because she's gonna own everything. That's what Sheila told them. And she said, quote, at one point she had an encounter with Sheila and Rhonda Clark
Starting point is 00:36:06 said, I called the police. That's when she tried to hit me when I was putting up the rope. She's putting up a rope to like rope off her driveway and Sheila came over and hit her. So this is a lot here. The total sum total of neighborhood fuckery is in a matter of three years, the police were summoned 54 times to this for this for neighborhood disputes, which is insane, obviously. That's so much. That's almost twice a month. That's ridiculous. Ridiculous. They said five times judges denied neighbors requests for personal protection orders against
Starting point is 00:36:49 Sheila, or Sheila against them, because sometimes they would file against her and then she would file back. That's what counter-files. Yeah. And also, prosecutors at least twice chose not to bring charges against Sheila for things that criminal activities that they were saying, hitting somebody, damaging property, something like that. Christmas Eve 2017, so December 24th, Sheila has a gathering with family and friends and
Starting point is 00:37:15 all that kind of thing. She talks to people and the Popejoy, Wendell Popejoy and Rhonda on Christmas Eve, they have a gathering of family and friends and He finds out that basically they get served with a subpoena to testify testify in a property dispute on Christmas Eve They don't have to testify Christmas Eve, but they get the subpoena Christmas Day goes by uneventfully December 26th the day after Christmas Sheila no one can find Sheila anymore She's gone. Apparently, she had been contacted by phone about 2pm on Christmas Day. So family members talked to her on Christmas Day.
Starting point is 00:37:54 And she was went to a family thing on Christmas Eve. So she's been seen then. But after that, no one's seen her. She was at her home on Christmas Eve. They're saying she's 5'3", 115 pounds and missing. So she's a tiny little mean lady. Yeah, tiny little mean lady. Yeah, that's what I mean. She is wacky. So now there's a reason she's missing and we'll find out what it is. Sheila apparently on December 26th was snow blowing the easement in front of the houses
Starting point is 00:38:24 there. She's snow blowing the easement and of course blowing snow onto Pope Joy's driveway from this. So he's like, great, now this is pissing me off. And snow blowing is her way of like claiming ownership over this easement. Like, I'll snow blow it because it's mine. So it's about 10 a.m. and Wendell Pope Joy is in his house having a cup of coffee when he sees Sheila out there snow blowing. Yeah. So he puts his coffee down,
Starting point is 00:38:49 he goes into his bedroom, opens up a dresser drawer, removes a 22 pistol from the dresser drawer. Okay. Okay. He walks down the driveway, hides in some pine trees that are between the two front yards and this is, there's a lot of snow coming down, it's 10 degrees outside, snowy and windy. Sheila's got a big parka hood up over her head. Sheila doesn't see Wendell in the trees. So he sneaks out of the trees, up through the snow, walks behind her and shoots her
Starting point is 00:39:24 in the back of the fucking head Wow just Wendell's had enough. He calmly put his coffee down and was like go get my gun now Hide in these trees and celebrated the birth of baby Jesus and this year is over brain on the snow. There we go That's the last Christmas Shooter in the back of the head okay 22 caliber long bullet passes through Forward through the right side of Sheila's brain kills her dad one shot Wow back of the head boom She just dies on the on the snowblower there, so After he kills her
Starting point is 00:40:04 Now there is no fucking way no but no neighbors saw this by the way. It's 10 o'clock in the morning the day after Christmas and it's snow so everybody can see outside and everybody can kind of see everybody's front from this area. There's no way the neighbors didn't see this at all. And also a gunshot going off. So what he does is he calmly puts her snowblower back where she keeps it. He has a camouflage sled that he uses for hunting for animals. He loads her up onto the sled, drags her into the woods behind his house. There's a hill down there, takes off all her clothes, burns them in a burn barrel and leaves her in the woods. Wendell! Wendell!
Starting point is 00:40:47 Fucking Wendell, Popejoy! My god, sir! They did, yeah. That is a snap and a half, man. And left her in the woods. Mr. Wendell is a bad man. Fuck, go ahead, Mr. Wendell. So he leaves her out, he doesn't even bury her, just leaves her in the snow.
Starting point is 00:41:05 And it's snowing so heavy within an hour, she's totally covered in snow anyway. Nobody, she's gone. She's in the snow, deep in the snow. So she burns all the clothes in a burn barrel and then just goes back in, I assume, and resumes his coffee. Maybe put it in the microwave for 20 seconds and give it a little warm. He probably took a sip and was like, ah, cold. Yeah, we'll do 20 seconds. There we go, that should do it. So the next day, people are looking for Sheila
Starting point is 00:41:33 because the family's like, can't get ahold of Sheila since Christmas Day, what's going on here? So the detectives come and they ask all the neighbors about her because they know there's been a million beefs and maybe this has something to do with it So they asked Wendell and Rhonda There about do you know anything about her disappearance? And the the detective said do you think somebody hurt Sheila or killed Sheila? What do you think and Wendell said? No idea. So they said so you didn't do anything to harm her? And he said, no, absolutely not.
Starting point is 00:42:05 Neither did Rhonda. We're clean. Clean as a whistle here. So then they talked to him on the 27th. They have an interview with him and while they're doing this, family members are searching all around, all over for her. So following this interview, they end up, Sheila's brother Jeff was searching an area with her son, Charlie, when they saw a body part
Starting point is 00:42:29 underneath the snow. They saw her heel sticking out of the snow. Oh, Jesus. And told, the brother told the son to turn around and he said, why don't you go back now? Like, I don't want you to have found this. It's a downhill wood lot, they said. It's an opening to a farm pasture. That's where they found them. So, where they found this. It's a downhill wood lot, they said. It's an opening to a farm pasture.
Starting point is 00:42:46 That's where they found them. So where they found her. So yeah, the brother realized that her son was accidentally standing on Sheila. He was standing on top of her body in the snow. That's why the uncle looked down and saw the foot and was like, why you head back for now? Go warm up for a minute, we'll take care of this. He said, I didn't want him standing on top of his mother when he found her. Fair enough. They uncover her, she's nude, except for earrings,
Starting point is 00:43:14 a white metal necklace, a white hair tie, a lip ring, and she's got a rose tattoo, so they know it's her. They also found buttons to her clothing in the burn barrel because the buttons didn't burn so they found her buttons in there but not her clothes so they said what the fuck it's on Wendell's property yeah her shits in Wendell's burn barrel but he's got no criminal record whatsoever they're like why would this guy who's been calm his whole life everybody likes this guy nice guy no criminal record why. They're like, why would this guy who's been calm his whole life, everybody likes this guy, nice guy, no criminal record, why would he kill this woman and hide the body right there, like right behind his house so it could be easily
Starting point is 00:43:53 found? It's fucking nuts. So one of the detectives said it was a difficult scene, it was hard for our detectives and our officers. Piercing through the evidence as the snow comes down covering up our scene, that made it difficult. Yeah, everything just keeps getting covered. It's too much. You have to put like a tent over the whole thing and then keep knocking the snow off the top of it. Now the cops did make an announcement to everyone in the area that quote, there's no cause for concern for anyone in the area. At this point it's an isolated incident. Is anybody out there a real asshole? Because
Starting point is 00:44:25 otherwise you're probably okay. There's no danger to the public. It's being resolved. Again, someone is currently in custody. There's no reason for alarm in the area. No one's in custody yet. They just told them we have, yeah, they said that before actually anything happened. So they talked to Wendell again, since it's, you know, on his property. And the quote is, this is Detective Sergeant Sparks said to Wendell, there's a dead lady behind your house here, who I'm guessing is Sheila. And Wendell just didn't say anything. And he said, no idea how a dead lady ended up on your back property. None.
Starting point is 00:45:01 And Wendell just said, I have no idea. No clue. So then they talked to Wendell just said, I have no idea. No clue. So then they talked to Wendell for a third time. They bring him into the office and sit him down. And they said, listen, we found evidence in your burn barrel, as well as blood, human blood on your sled, on your property. So you know, what are we talking about here? It's got to be, you have to know something about this.
Starting point is 00:45:25 And he said, no, I don't know anything. I don't know anything. And the police said, well, her family is very upset and you're at the top of our list here because you're one of the people that didn't like her the most. And one of the detectives said, quote, you know what you did, you just don't wanna tell us.
Starting point is 00:45:41 So this goes on for six hours of, you know what you did, no, didn't, no I didn't, blah blah blah. And then finally they said, did you or Rhonda hurt or Sheila or kill her? And he said no. And so they said, okay. They asked about a previous report that Sheila filed that claimed Rhonda fired a gun at her. And so they asked what would happen there and Wendell said it wasn't true. She said quote, she wouldn't waste her bullets on her. Okay. Then after six hours, he says, you know what?
Starting point is 00:46:16 It's three 30 a.m. right now. Fuck it. Fuck it. He said, I just want some goddamn sleep. The detective said he asked for a pen and paper and said, let's finish this and what's done is done. He said, I Wendell Popejoy in the within the spur of the moment decided to shoot and kill Sheila, put her in the backyard and take full responsibility for all actions to deceit and
Starting point is 00:46:40 cover up the crime. That's his exact words that he wrote. He confessed, he said, I came up from behind her. I hit out in the trees and I shot her. He said it was spur of the moment. He kept saying that spur of the moment. I looked out, I saw her. She would blow snow into all the driveways to aggravate us. And it just, it was enough already. He said Sheila was snow blowing the easement driveway out in front of his residence. This what he wrote and Wendell stated that he made the decision when he saw Sheila to kill her Okay, so he grabbed a gun from his home went out to the easement where Sheila was blowing the snow He stated he went up behind Sheila and shot her in the back of the head and disposed of the body
Starting point is 00:47:18 He described it as quote like picked her up quote like a sack of potatoes and put her on the sled Wendell that's still pretty I just picked her up like a potato stand. She's a bitch She's been a real pain in the ass though. You ever had like a real asshole around you though when like Wendell It's one thing if he went and shot her and then oh shit and called the cops but he burned her clothes dude. I'll even accept taking her in the woods but to strip her once you have a nude corpse in front of you. You're a bad guy Wendell. If I'm standing in front of a nude corpse I'm going I have made a wrong decision here somewhere right? Well would you look at this I never thought I'd be doing this. This isn't right at all.
Starting point is 00:48:06 I don't work for a mortuary. I should never encounter. Who the hell am I? Wait, a medical examiner? So he said, I went out there, I went out there, got behind her and shot her. I guess it was a cold act. I'm not really sorry she's gone.
Starting point is 00:48:22 He said. God damn it. He's not making it better. Nope. Then later on he apologized and said, I'm sorry I did that. He said it was a snap decision. He said if I had a plan, I guess it would have been a better plan. He said because that wasn't much of a plan.
Starting point is 00:48:38 I just went out and shot her and then the rest of it came to me. Like I guess I got to get rid of her now. Did he think Mark was going to come over and go, thank you so much? Yeah, that- Well- He thinks he's gonna make HOA board president for this? Wait till you hear what the neighbors say. Oh, Jesus. It's fucking awesome, dude.
Starting point is 00:48:55 It's awesome. It's like he killed the Kraken or something. It's fucking crazy. So, it's wild shit. So he said, she went in backside up, I didn't cover her or nothing, is what he told her. So he just threw her down on her face. Threw her on her chest. Ass in the air and let the snow do it.
Starting point is 00:49:17 Then he got in his car, drove to a bridge over the half frozen Grand River and threw the gun in the water. So this is a lot of cover up. Now the at this point in publicly it comes out because the cops before this had said the police have been out there about a dozen times in the last couple of years. Then it comes out once the press gets a hold of it and they can check the records. It comes out that from 2014 to 2017 the police had been there 54 times in three years.
Starting point is 00:49:46 You gotta do something. That's insane. And nobody did shit. So they did an autopsy, they confirmed, shot in the head, bullet went through her brain, that's that. The family, Sheila's family is really pissed because apparently they loved her
Starting point is 00:49:58 and she was a nice person to them. I mean, it's her family, it's their family. I don't know, she treated them differently. Her sister disputed the notion that her sister was a troublemaker. Well, I've seen multiple videos and I showed you one. She's a troublemaker. She's just snacking her ass. And giving the finger and dancing on someone else's property knowing that they don't want her there.
Starting point is 00:50:18 She's being an agitator for sure. She said every morning she talked to her sister who lives in Florida by telephone. They had their morning coffee together. She said she was a very to her sister who lives in Florida by telephone. They had their morning coffee together. She said she was a very selfless person. Her loss cannot be put into words. I'm sure. So family members released a statement to the local TV station, Wood TV, which is hilarious. At this time we're in shock due to the heinous nature of this crime.
Starting point is 00:50:42 We are deeply saddened by the fact that there's nothing we we or anyone can do to bring our mother back She was loved dearly by so many for her her sweet and caring nature And hated by many for the opposite one Wow Yeah, she was selfishly and brutally taken from us far too soon We are praying that she gets justice that she so desperately deserves are too soon, we are praying that she gets justice that she so desperately deserves." They said, we'll never hear her smile or hear her laugh. All of this is gone because of a whim, as Wendell called it. That's what they said. Then they start a GoFundMe for her funeral.
Starting point is 00:51:17 Of course. My sister Sheila was tragically murdered over the holidays. She went missing on Christmas and they found her body a few days later. She was suddenly taken away from her family in such a cruel, senseless way. She was a mother, a grandma, a great grandma, aunt and a sister. She was loved very much and will be deeply missed. She was loved by many.
Starting point is 00:51:34 I'm trying to raise money for her children to help with the funeral costs and burial costs. And they ended up getting $1,320 raised, which will not. That'll bury somebody, won't it? It won't bury him, but she's cremated, so it will cre will not. That won't bury anybody. It won't bury him, but she's cremated, so it will cremate you. It won't bury you, fuck no.
Starting point is 00:51:49 A fucking stone costs more than that. A plot costs more than that. What's it cost to bury somebody? Altogether? No, more than that. For my grandmothers, I wanna say it was like nine grand. What? Well, she got like a thing in the wall.
Starting point is 00:52:01 You could probably get it a little cheaper, but a headstone is fucking expensive. I mean, that's really expensive plots or expi. Yeah, it's fucking a coffin itself is too grand. I mean Are you done with this? Yeah, making that shit. That's that's what I mean. What are we doing? People are always gonna die. Wow, it's like night shift They got a die. Why can't they die for us? I? Mean we're profiting both ways. Chuck and Bill cemetery says people gotta die why can't they die for us. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gabba was
Starting point is 00:52:32 born into legal royalty her specialty representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals however while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list.
Starting point is 00:53:05 She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondry+. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify and listen to more Exhibit C True Crime Shows early and ad free right now. What happens when a hacker uncovers hundreds of murder plots targeting people all over
Starting point is 00:53:36 the world? Each of them posted on a hitman for hire site on the dark web with their photos, habits and intimate details all used against them. What happens when they learn that the threat is coming from the person closest to them? Or what is the psychological profile of a father who would murder his own son and wife all to hide a drug addiction and years of embezzlement? How do we understand the actions of the most complex and twisted minds? From cases of serial killers, relationships turned dark, to manipulative scammers preying
Starting point is 00:54:08 on the insecurities of regular people. Wondry's Exhibit C is your partner in crime. Listen to the best of True Crime by following Exhibit C on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to hit True Crime shows like Kill List and Killer Psyche early and ad free right now by joining Wandery Plus. Chuck and Bill's, it sounds like a fucking... Sounds like a bar. Like a sports bar. Chuck and Bill's Cemetery and Sports Bar. So Sheila's
Starting point is 00:54:40 friend who I guess a friend of hers said that Sheila had told her about a recent run-in with a neighbor over snow plowing and that she'd been having a really difficult time with her neighbors. She caused for the most part it seems like. So Pope Joy Wendell has no criminal record, but he's going to be charged with felony murder and using a firearm in a felony. And he's held without bond. Neighbors react.
Starting point is 00:55:08 Here is Andy Gronink. He says, it's sad that she got killed, but I feel for the guy who killed her. He said, he said, quote, I wouldn't care if he got nothing because he wouldn't shoot you or me. In other words, if you're not a complete fucking bitch to him for three years or six years, he ain't going to shoot you, so don't worry about Wendell. I've never heard that quote about anybody. No, he wouldn't shoot you or me.
Starting point is 00:55:38 That's some Midwestern niceness that you have to read between the lines. I wouldn't care if he got nothing. I wouldn't care if he got nothing. I wouldn't care if he got nothing. I wouldn't shoot Mew or me. You snow blowing his driveway, then you'll be all right. Probably not. So, oh, that's amazing. And Mewar has some funny shit to say too.
Starting point is 00:55:58 Rhonda Clark, now they're trying to say was Rhonda in on this, the fiance, Wendell's fiance, because she was believed to be inside the home when the shooting Happened police say when he confessed Wendell confessed he said that Rhonda he told Rhonda about the killing But then when they talked to Rhonda, he said she said I didn't know anything about it I don't know what you're talking about She claimed Wendell never admitted the crime to her and she also said she never heard a gunshot
Starting point is 00:56:23 She was asleep the whole time Good move. Yeah, I don't know nothing. I was sleeping Yeah, but he had said multiple times that she would then later on he said multiple times that she was sleeping at the time of the Shooting but he later told her about it. He said yeah, she wasn't awake knowing what I was doing But I told her later. I shot the neighbor. You won't have to worry about her anymore They said maybe that's where she said what did did you do, as he tried to remember the sequence of events, and Wendell said, I said I took care of the problem. Rhonda said that she and Wendell lived in hell because of Sheila.
Starting point is 00:57:00 He just snapped, she said. Anything we tried, everything was by the law and this happens I miss my Wendell because he's in jail So Sheila and Wendell's loved ones say authorities should have done more to stop this to begin with it's not like they didn't have 54 occasions to maybe fucking do something here Rhonda Clark said the judge and the prosecutor they knew what this was going on They knew it and didn't do anything about it. Then she said she was an evil woman and started playing ELO in the background.
Starting point is 00:57:32 Yeah, take that. She said he's been out there in the garden while she belittled him and abused him and swore at him. She just harassed. She would just yell shit at people for no reason. She said that maybe if law enforcement had acted on the complaints against Sheila, this shit might be different because maybe she would have stopped. She believed that, that they had, this is, Sheila believed that she had owned the easement
Starting point is 00:57:59 even though she didn't and that's how that went. She said, Clark said, we were caught between a nightmare that was horrible and there are two sides to every story. Sure. But we've heard his side and it's just, I put my coffee down and shot her. Like that's not a good side. That's not a good side. It'd be a better side if it wasn't then I stripped her corpse nude and burned her clothes, which that looks, anytime you, anytime you strip a murder victim, it looks terrible at that point.
Starting point is 00:58:26 Looks like you jerked off on her, even if you didn't. You know what I mean? Yeah, when you're standing beside a body of water chucking a firearm into it, you know that you did something wrong. You know that you've done something that isn't correct there. Nude corpse, gun in the river, I've done bad things.
Starting point is 00:58:43 Shit. Chucking a firearm into a body of water says, I'm going to jail if they find this. How often have you ever been around a nude corpse? Ever? Never. Not once. No, every corpse is clothed with its hands over its chest. Like in a suit or a dress with a fucking rosary in its hand.
Starting point is 00:59:02 Yeah, the whole deal. In its proper place. In its casket. Yeah, with the man of the cloth standing over it. Yeah. Sombra music and shit. Sheila's daughter, Jane, said, I think they could have paid attention
Starting point is 00:59:17 that there was something more to this, talking about the cops here. In a recorded phone call from jail, Wendell told Ronda quote I just wanted to take care of the problem in the neighborhood that was my thinking. I didn't want to be here. I just wanted to solve some shit. So they took Wendell on a field trip from jail and he showed the police where he tossed the weapon but divers couldn't find it nobody could find it must have got swept away. So they had the trial for him and the prosecution
Starting point is 00:59:44 said because the prosecution's got they have the trial for him. And the prosecution said, because the prosecution's got, they have a little bit to overcome because they have to acknowledge that nobody likes this lady because other than her family, everybody else that's going to come up is going to go, this fucking lady was evil and she sucked and I hate her. So in the opening, the prosecutor says she was, she will be described as a very unpleasant lady. The reports I saw were incidents that were really not chargeable. For example, kicking snow on someone's car with hindsight. Had anybody thought that he had potential for violence that was not on anyone's radar is what they say. Then he added that just because she's an asshole
Starting point is 01:00:21 does not give Wendell the right to kill her right he said murder is murder I mean, that's it's a true. It's impossible for me to imagine a more premeditated crime than what happened here That's a little bit of an exaggeration Yeah, I would say so I think it's more post meditated like I'm gonna shit I shot her oh fuck now I gotta do some shit Yeah, I gotta think about it, but it but she's already dead now the defense attorney said that he didn't disagree he said I don't disagree with much of what the prosecutor said he did shoot her and she was a bitch so just to let you know he
Starting point is 01:00:55 said she said a the prosecutor or defense attorney said every time for the eight years when the lived in that home she would intentionally crank the snowblower to close Wendell's driveway. This is years and years of the same type of antagonistic behavior that he finally snapped. He finally had enough. That day was his breaking point. And he said, would charges have escalated this even more?
Starting point is 01:01:19 Hell, I don't know how much more escalated you can be. Because the prosecutor said, maybe if somebody, if, you know, she had been charged by the police for other things, it might have escalated you can be. Because the prosecutor said, maybe if somebody, if you know, she had been charged by the police for other things, it might've escalated the feud. And this guy went, how much more escalated can you be than getting shot in the back of the fucking head? He said, so, he said, yeah, he just snapped, he reached his wits end and he shot her. Then he realizes, my God, I shot her.
Starting point is 01:01:40 He said, he didn't plan it. He said it happened in the spur of the moment. No plans, it happens and he said he asked the jury to find Wendell Guilty, but not a first-degree murder. It wasn't a oh, it's he said it wasn't a premeditated There's no defense to it as far as whether he did it or not. That's not and it wasn't self-defense, but they're saying listen Reasonable minds here. Let's not call it first degree murder, let's make it something less than that, a manslaughter, a second degree, some shit. Now the judge makes a decision that the jurors are not going to be told about 99% of the
Starting point is 01:02:19 beefs that have happened over the years. What? So they don't get to see the videos of Sheila giving the finger and slapping her ass and doing all this shit. They don't get to hear, they don't get to see all the police reports of Sheila being incoherent, screaming at the cops to get the fuck off
Starting point is 01:02:35 and yelling at old ladies. They don't hear any of that shit. All they're gonna hear is he walked out of his house and shot her? The only things that they're gonna hear are things that happened between Wendell and Sheila, which is a few things, but it's nothing compared to her with the rest of the neighborhood, which is everybody at that point.
Starting point is 01:02:52 So none of that. Now Sheila's fiance, Wayne Homan, he testifies. He said he didn't believe that Sheila was mean to her neighbors and said Sheila told him that they antagonized her. I'm sure she did. Which we've seen the videos. No, that's not true. He said she wasn't like that.
Starting point is 01:03:10 They used to rile her up, harassing her all the time. And they said, well, what about all the other witnesses that say the opposite? And he said, they must be mistaken. I know my Sheila, she's a rose. I don't know. So. It's my hummingbird. One neighbor here, Mark Muir, does get to testify.
Starting point is 01:03:27 And he says that Sheila was a source of grief in the neighborhood, the source of grief. He said, we tried to obtain relief from Sheila in any way that we could. He testified about court action that him and his neighbors had taken against Sheila in a property dispute. They said Sheila wanted to claim the easement as her own. When he was asked
Starting point is 01:03:47 when did all these hard feelings start, he said, I don't know if there was ever an opportunity for good feelings. He said the problem about Sheila is she was relentless. He said her relentlessness is what drove you fucking crazy. She'd abuse you for hours if you were outside. She never got bored. He said she would holler at him while he worked on his farm. And he said it went on and on and on and she just never stopped. So his wife would document every encounter, they'd call the cops and the cops would come and nothing would happen.
Starting point is 01:04:19 So he said, this Muir guy, I love this guy, he said that he didn't like Sheila and didn't refuse to help her family members look for her when she was missing because he said, I didn't give a fuck where she was. Couldn't care less. Wow. He said that the police showed up after she was reported missing. Rescuers set up spotlights and he told an officer that he wasn't going to help in any search and he said, I'm not helping shit. And the cop turned to him and said we've heard that a lot
Starting point is 01:04:46 Said I don't know people told us to not help don't fucking care if she's missing is what people said good fuck her I mean that you're going around house to house and they're going yeah, I don't give a shit fuck you It was only her family really looking for her in the cops. That was it. Mm-hmm He said quote I had really no interest in helping at all So during cross-examination, he was complimentary about Wendell, though. He said, Wendell will help you out even asking. He never did shit to anybody. He was a great guy.
Starting point is 01:05:12 So another neighbor talked about Wendell and said, he's a very pleasant neighbor. It's very pleasant. So what do we do here? I mean, it goes to the jury. The jury, we 100% know what happened, but what do you find him guilty of? You got to find him guilty of something. There's shitload of options.
Starting point is 01:05:33 Well, they find him guilty of first degree murder. Is that right? Yeah, first degree fucking murder they find him guilty of. I mean, he went, he went into the bedroom. What else would he have gotten that gun for? Yeah but I mean is that how quick does a snap have to be for it to be a snap? If you have 30 seconds to put your coffee down go get your gun is that not snapping? Is that now is that a plan now? I think so. That's what I mean legally I mean technically even if it happened if he
Starting point is 01:06:02 had his gun on him and they were standing face to face and it happened deciding to grab your gun and pull it out that's premeditation isn't it? Is I mean technically even if it happened if he had his gun on him and they were standing face to face and it happened Deciding to grab your gun and pull it out. That's premeditation. Isn't it? Is there anything premeditation unless you accidentally run someone over with your car? I guess in that regard anybody that's carrying a gun that's pre meditate no matter what happens because you a case could be made The case could be made for it. Anyway, so I mean, I don't know I did it's a hard to me the it's the post murder things that are the hard part the disposal yeah standing next to a body of water and shocking a Yeah, those two things are hard to get over
Starting point is 01:06:36 But I mean if he like I said if he shot her in the lawn and then immediately called the cops I think we're getting a different word here. Yeah So he is sentenced to, you sir may fuck off life without parole. Holy shit. Yeah that is a lot. So as Pope Joy left the courtroom a man yelled at him that he should look out for himself in prison and then some other woman said there's two sides to every story asshole and that's argued with each other, which is hilarious. That's great. I love it.
Starting point is 01:07:11 Oh my God. Now her family, Sheila's family said he won't get out, but that doesn't bring back my sister is what the sister said. They said the family is still struggling. The kids said, no matter how old we are, we need to have a mother to call and her children no longer have her there, which is true. Her kids liked her. So Rhonda, she said about Wendell, he's a good man who didn't deserve to be locked up for the rest of his life. And this is crazy. So May of 2020, Wendell appeals this whole thing. He argues that the jurors should have been allowed to consider land manslaughter as a lesser offense
Starting point is 01:07:49 But they said bong This is what his thing said bong repeatedly harassed multiple neighbors by name-calling yelling flipping the bird Trespassing snow blowing snow onto her neighbors driveways driving on their grass Riling up the neighbors animals and was even engaged in civil litigation with one set of neighbors over an easement at the time of her death. She's driving on their grass? On purpose, yeah, just driving on the grass. Polly Walnuts?
Starting point is 01:08:15 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, she's pulling a fucking donuts in the front yard. So they said first degree murder is defined by and includes, in relevant part, a killing by means of poisoning, lying in wait, or any other willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing. That's first degree murder, which is a really broad spectrum. Yeah, but the hiding in the trees fucking qualifies it, man. By means of poison, lying in wait, or any other willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing.
Starting point is 01:08:44 All other murders are murder in the second degree The elements of which of which are death caused by a defendant's acts with malice and without justification So it's not an accident. That's still you meant to kill them without justification Voluntary manslaughter is killing without malice Didn't mean to fucking kill you but you're dead voluntary manslaughter requires that a defendant be found to have had an intent to kill and to this
Starting point is 01:09:09 extent the offense parallels the crime of murder but is distinguished by murder from murder by an absence of malice. Okay they said to reduce a homicide to voluntary manslaughter the fact-finder must determine from an examination of all the circumstances surrounding the killing that malice was negated by provocation and the homicide was committed in the heat of passion. The word passion in context of voluntary manslaughter describes a state of mind incapable of cool reflection. They said there cannot be a lapse of time during which a reasonable person could control his passions. I don't know if there was enough time just to go in
Starting point is 01:09:49 the bedroom of a small house. I don't know. They said defendant Popejoy argues that the jury should have been instructed to the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter because there was no overwhelming evidence presented showing Sheila provoked defendant and that the defendant acted out of passion. Indeed, Sheila and Pope Joy had engaged in verbal altercations in the past and the overwhelming evidence at trial indicated that Sheila was a neighborhood nuisance. However, she's been adjudicated a nuisance.
Starting point is 01:10:17 However, defendant and Sheila had not even interacted with each other on the day she was killed. Defendant explained that he had watched her snow blowing on her property while drinking coffee in his kitchen, went to his bedroom, retrieved his gun, walked outside his house to some trees, where he then snuck up on her and shot her once in the back of the head. Bong was facing the opposite direction and never saw the defendant coming. A rational review of this evidence does not support a finding that the killing occurred in the heat of passion. Rather, the defendant had ample time to plan the killing.
Starting point is 01:10:47 Thus, we conclude that the trial court's decision to not instruct the jury on the lesser included offensive voluntary manslaughter was not an abuse of discretion. They said that there's overwhelming evidence a trial indicated that Bong was a nuisance, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Yeah. So they said, no, fuck off. Yeah. It's affirmed. So he'll be
Starting point is 01:11:06 in jail forever. Yeah. He's not getting out. Not getting out. And Sheila's cremated. So that's that for her. And these people in this neighborhood at this point, everybody else is like, wow, what the hell took the, I mean, they both kind of took a bullet for us. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're sad to lose Wendell, but I mean they both kind of took a bullet for us. You know what I mean? Like yeah, yeah, we're sad or sad to lose Wendell, but I mean we're happy Sheila's gone And I mean someone else will move in there. It's fine. So the rest of the neighborhoods like well luckily I didn't have to do it It's fucking my point is when he did that how many neighbors saw it and didn't yeah went good and fucking clothes are blinds Didn't see nothing There's no way he did that without anybody seeing it. It was out. I wasn't in the backyard
Starting point is 01:11:54 It went right out in the front yard and shot her. I mean, it's I Mean fucking man, that's crazy. So unbelievable. There you go. There is Crockerys outship, Michigan. There it is. There it is everybody Holy shit, that's some small-town murder shit right there. So you can't do that No much of a dick they are they can't people are huge assholes all the time So if you like that show tell the world about it if you like any of those tell the world about it get on Whatever app you of the shows, tell the world about it. Get on whatever app you're listening on and give us five stars. It helps drive us up the charts.
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Starting point is 01:14:11 we're going to check out this documentary that's messed us up for a long time. We're going to talk about it and see what you guys think of it here. There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane. It's an HBO documentary. It's on HBO Max. It's also on YouTube, so you can check it out and get up to date with it. It's a crazy weird documentary about a lot of people dying for strange reasons. So we'll get into that, patreon.com slash crime and sports, and you can get a shout out if you do that too. At the end of the regular length show, we'll give you a shout out.
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