Snapped: Women Who Murder - Gloria Aiken

Episode Date: October 6, 2024

After leads dry up in a missing person case, a severed body part's discovery reopens investigations.Season 30 Episode 19Originally aired: Feb 20, 2022Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE o...n the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee 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 00:01:01 A disappearance in a small Texas town leaves investigators puzzled. He wouldn't have just ran off. Too honorable for something like that. He wouldn't have made a choice like that just to run. But when a horrific discovery washes ashore on a nearby lake, the piece of this tight-knit community is shaken to its core. He finds a hidden por corso in the bag. It wasn't a rough cut like you would see with an animal attack
Starting point is 00:01:30 or an accidental dismemberment. This was a straight, clean cut all the way through. As the investigation begins, the victim's past suggests a sinister motive. There was some guys that he owed money to that were possibly involved in the Mexican mafia. When the pieces fall into place, a grisly crime will take shape.
Starting point is 00:01:53 He had been shot in the head twice with a.22 caliber weapon. To dismember a person would require some anger. This is some serious fucking shit. Investigators are left fighting for justice until the very end. There was a lot of evidence, but it was all circumstantial. So much of the case has loose ends, and juries don't like loose ends. The charming town of Ennis, Texas is the picture of southern hospitality. Ennis is one of those towns where the kid winning the 4-H contest can make the front
Starting point is 00:02:38 page of the paper. I used to drive with one hand on the wheel because I would always be waving to people. But on February 18, 2008, a dark cloud hovers over peaceful Ennis when 41-year-old Gloria Aiken calls 911 to report the disappearance of her partner of 10 years, George Frazier. Gloria reported him missing. The last time she had seen him was the night before, and then she just didn't see him again and had a bad feeling. She called the hospitals, checked everywhere, and he was nowhere to be found. Dispatch quickly sends an officer to George and Gloria's home to file an official report. She said he left to go see a friend and never came back.
Starting point is 00:03:20 She said he was in the hospital. She said he was in the hospital. She said he was in the hospital. She said he was in the hospital. Dispatch quickly sends an officer to George and Gloria's home to file an official report. She said he left to go see a friend and never came back. According to Gloria, George has never not returned home, especially on a day he's supposed to watch the couple's teenage daughter. Gloria called me and she asked me if I had heard from him. And I had said, no, I haven't heard from him. And then she said he didn't come home.
Starting point is 00:03:52 And then she was like, she's starting to worry. He would never leave his daughters because he was the role of taking care of the kids. We want to look at everything and we start looking at potential people that could have had something to do with him being missing. George Frazier was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1965. Joyous and charismatic, George quickly grew into the family comedian. He was a big guy, but he was more like a humble type person, like, hello, how you doing? Never seen him mad, never seen him angry. George was just like a basic everyday guy. Despite George's sunny outlook, Brooklyn in the 1960s wasn't an easy place to grow up. This is just an awful crazy time in Brooklyn.
Starting point is 00:04:47 The crack just hit the streets. Everybody was getting strung out on this crack. George learned some street hustle. He knew how to navigate the back alleys of Brooklyn in order to survive. I did get that impression he didn't have to work. I think he might have some criminal activity that gained him his money and he liked his money. He just didn't like spending it. George's life was forever changed when he laid eyes on
Starting point is 00:05:14 single mother of two 31 year old Gloria Aiken. She's a single mom, similar upbringing, probably a challenging childhood, much like George's. She did grow up poor, sharing clothes with her family. She has three brothers and two sisters. They were not close. At the age of 18, Gloria had her first child, a little girl named Erica. But being a teen parent wasn't easy for Gloria or Erica's father.
Starting point is 00:05:49 My uncle's a little bit older than her. They had the baby and they got an apartment, and they were staying with each other and started to fight. She got rid of him. Seven years later, in 1992, Gloria gave birth to a second daughter and worked around the clock to provide a stable life for her children. She did hair on the side. She always had a job and always had a hustle going on.
Starting point is 00:06:14 And she was quite inspirational to me as a kid. The fact that she was able to create opportunities for herself. Though her daughters always came first, Gloria still found ways to treat herself. Though her daughters always came first, Gloria still found ways to treat herself. She was glamorous to me and she was about her money, so to speak. Her clothes were very, very nice for her coats and big jewelry. Gloria's style garnered the attention of many young men, including 32-year-old George Frazier. Gloria and George, I'm not sure how they met, but they met after my uncle and Gloria separated.
Starting point is 00:06:58 They're both passionate people and they both very opinionated and they don't back down. They both had the same drive to get money. They were good together. They complemented each other to me. In 1998, the couple started dating and George took on Gloria's daughters as his own. They called him dad and they seemed to have a pretty good relationship. I really loved George.
Starting point is 00:07:28 He accepted me like a niece right off the bat. Gloria worked at the post office while the girls were growing up, and George kind of stayed with the girls while she worked. After seven years of dating, Gloria and George decided to leave crime-ridden Brooklyn. He and Gloria moved from New York down to Texas, and they just wanted to get away and come to a completely new place and start over. While the family headed south, Gloria's oldest daughter took a different route and joined the military.
Starting point is 00:08:02 George was proud of her being in the military. He would always say that he was proud of her. In 2005, the couple moved with their 12-year-old daughter to the small town of Ennis. George had family around, you know. He was closer to his family, and that's the reason they moved here. This little old town of Ennis, there's not a whole lot of entertainment. It's a lot more slowed down here than versus in New York. George immediately embraced the slowed down southern lifestyle of his new hometown.
Starting point is 00:08:38 I met George on the job in this regional medical center. He was a temporary. We enjoy what we do. We hang pictures and we fix things that are broke for people. He said he liked it because it was quiet. He really enjoyed the peace, he said. He was just working temporary jobs here and there, so she seemed to be more of the breadwinner in the family, and he was more responsible
Starting point is 00:09:00 for taking care of the daily duties. She had the more stable job, the more long-term job working at the prison. Off duty from her job at Hutchins State Jail, Gloria wanted even more for herself and continued her New York hustle mentality. She was working two jobs, if I'm not mistaken,
Starting point is 00:09:21 and then she was also going to school. She was enrolled in school in a community college around here, trying to better herself and move up the ladder. She was studying like anatomy, physiology, you know, things leading either to a health care or medical background. By 2008, their youngest daughter, now 15 years old, was enrolled in high school, and the family was thriving in Texas. George wanted to be happy somewhere with Gloria, and that was it.
Starting point is 00:09:57 But when George is reported missing on February 18, 2008, Gloria tells police she is alarmed that her always reliable partner has vanished without a trace. I don't think he took off. For George, like, not to come home or not to be there was not like George. He wouldn't have just ran off. Too honorable for something like that. He wouldn't have made a choice like that just to run without family.
Starting point is 00:10:22 So now him being gone became a bigger issue. And so more suspicion about where he was and why he left became more important. After responding officers take Gloria's statement, a missing persons investigation is opened with Detective Dorinda Clark at the helm. Detective Clark started to call area jails, hospitals, places like that to make sure the person's not injured, unable to communicate or whatever.
Starting point is 00:10:50 That's just moral procedure. When her calls come up empty, Detective Clark heads to the home of George's partner, Gloria, for more information. Normally, your closest family member or the last person to see someone alive is usually your first point of the investigation as your starting point. Sitting across from Gloria, it's clear she is deeply concerned. His wallet was still left there at the house.
Starting point is 00:11:18 If you're going to go missing on purpose, you know, you're going to take your wallet and things that you need, whether it's credit cards or ID, things that you need to live. We asked her for the phone information, the provider information and numbers. We were going to try to use the phone to track him. Basically is what we're going to try to do. They were just trying to gather some evidence or information that could lead them as to where he could have gone. But Gloria says the phone is also a dead end.
Starting point is 00:11:46 Gloria said that his phone wasn't working. George's phone had been turned off shortly after his disappearance. Well, if you want to find somebody, you got to have their phone on. He didn't take a vehicle with him, so we didn't have a vehicle to look for. We couldn't track a phone.
Starting point is 00:12:03 There's all sorts of things going on that we would normally do that we weren't able to do. A week passes with few leads for the missing persons case. Even after seven days of just hitting it hard, they have nothing. This was a frustrating investigation for the Ennis Police Department. They need to find George. This was a frustrating investigation for the Ennis Police Department. They need to find George. Coming up, a darker picture of George's past comes into focus. I think George had bad dealings in the past.
Starting point is 00:12:36 It would seem that it came back to haunt him. He owed somebody some money and he was going to meet this person and take care of that. February 19, 2008. It's been 24 hours since George Frazier was reported missing, and there is no sign of the beloved father. And this is a rural community. Was he somebody who had gone missing, who wandered into the woods or went out by the lake for some reason, fell in, drowned, maybe animals had gotten to him?
Starting point is 00:13:17 There was always that possibility of that happening. After days of searching, on February 25th, detectives circle back to his partner of 10 years, Gloria Aiken. She says that there's been no activity on his credit cards. When detectives ask if Gloria has any theories as to where George might be, she says she and her family are beginning to fear George's past may have caught up with him. He was a force in the areas we grew up in, so he was a respected man on the streets. Based off of the lifestyle that George led in the past, it would seem that it would have been something from his past that came back to haunt him.
Starting point is 00:14:04 George was very private. I mean, George had bad dealings in the past. He just seemed like he come from a really fast background. Maybe something to do with drugs. He knew quite a bit about them. Sales, amounts, types, time. Although the family had seemingly made a fresh start in Texas, Gloria says there's one bit of information she had been afraid to tell police.
Starting point is 00:14:32 She tells detectives that he took off that night because he owed somebody some money and he was going to meet this person and take care of them. Gloria told the investigators that possibly he had owed some people money, specifically a Hispanic man who might've been in the Mexican mafia. And so that's why she believes something bad might've happened to him. The Mexican mafia and various gangs are all over Texas. It's very rare to have that in our County, you know, but we've had a few cases where
Starting point is 00:15:06 gang-related activity ends up coming into our county. The potential lead sparks investigators' interest, but during the interview, they notice an unsettling detail in the language Gloria is using around George's disappearance. She kept saying, he was this, he did that, he had been doing this, it wasn't anything in the present tense. That's definitely what caused for concern and kind of throw up a red flag in your investigation when you've got your reporting party
Starting point is 00:15:40 already referring to your victim in the past tense. Still, Gloria remains entirely cooperative and even consents to a search of her home. They look through the couple's cars, they look through the couple's home. There is no obvious sign of foul play. But as investigators make their way to the couple's bedroom, they notice something odd. The house was clean. It was very organized. It was just a nice place.
Starting point is 00:16:10 We go upstairs and there's this big walk-in closet full of trash bags. What's in there? All those, all of George's clothes. She said she couldn't stand to look at them. It's what she told us. I can imagine where somebody would be so upset seeing this reminder that they would put the clothes in trash bags. So it wasn't an automatic red flag. It just seemed odd.
Starting point is 00:16:39 Investigators decide to dig deeper into Gloria and George's home life by going to Ennis High School and sitting down with the couple's 15-year-old daughter. I wanted to talk with you to try to find out what happened with your dad. Her response to them was, I'm a kid, why are you asking me these things? She never was real emotional about him being missing, didn't seem to be super upset.
Starting point is 00:17:05 She figured he's probably just gonna come home later. She said the last time she had seen George was at their home, upstairs. She heard him get a phone call. I just heard his phone ring, and he picked it up. Okay. But you heard him talk on the phone to somebody? He said, oh, everyone's alone. Okay.
Starting point is 00:17:24 Just like, everyone's alone. OK. Just like, oh, everyone's alone. She remembers him leaving because the house has an alarm system that would let her know when somebody was leaving. And that's about it. She never saw him after that. Next, detectives ask if her parents ever had any problems in their relationship. She if her parents ever had any problems in their relationship.
Starting point is 00:17:46 She described her parents' relationship as being pretty happy. She said they didn't really fight all that much. The teen's description of a peaceful home draws the spotlight off Gloria. It was by all appearances a happy home. That's all she could give the police about George disappearing. Desperate for answers, on February 26th, over a week since George's disappearance, investigators begin questioning his friends hoping for a leave. They're talking to a friend of George who says that he hasn't talked to George since
Starting point is 00:18:23 Christmas, but he does remember George talking about a guy named Daniel. Daniel had a reputation at one time of being kind of a crook. Detectives must determine if this is the man Gloria believes George owes money to. Any lead's worth checking out. I'm not going to discount any lead until we follow up on it. And it just seemed like a good place to go. On February 29, 2008, 12 days since George's disappearance, detectives sit down with Daniel Inojosa. Daniel and George used to work at the hospital together.
Starting point is 00:19:03 Daniel and George were friends. Daniel says that he had no information about George, hadn't talked to him in a long time. Daniel had no knowledge of what happened to George. He was concerned about George also. Daniel provides an alibi, which quickly checks out. And when detectives dig into Daniel's past, they find no ties to the Mexican mafia. He did not appear to be involved in any kind of offense at all. With their best lead dried up, investigators find themselves at a stalemate yet again.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Investigators are considering all possibilities. They want to put different storylines to rest. Was this a missing person? They had to find answers. March 1st, 2008. As the investigation into the disappearance of George Frazier grinds to a halt, a new mystery unravels three miles away in nearby Bardwell Lake. A couple that was on the lake just enjoying themselves come around a curve and see a human lake. They had been walking along the way, found this leg partially wrapped up in a plastic
Starting point is 00:20:18 bag and then called the authorities right away when they found it. Normally when you get a call that someone thinks they found human remains, more often than not, it turns out to be an animal bone. So I was a little shocked to find out when we got there that it was an actual human leg. There's no distinguishing marks, but it's a leg of an African-American.
Starting point is 00:20:42 The wound itself appeared to have been cut with some sort of saw or a bladed instrument. It wasn't a rough cut like you would see with a an animal attack or or an accidental dismemberment something like that. This was a straight clean cut all the way through. Coming up, a possible crime scene is uncovered. In most of the places, there were very small droplets of blood. And as investigators dig more into George and Gloria's relationship, a stunning secret
Starting point is 00:21:18 comes to light. He admitted they had an affair. Accused of committing war crimes look no further than Paul Bergrin. All the big guys go to Bergrin because he gets everybody off. You name it, Paul can do it. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? From one dream, the makers of Dr. Death and Over My Dead Body comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules.
Starting point is 00:22:01 Isn't it funny how witnesses disappear or how evidence doesn't show up or somebody doesn't testify correctly? In order to win at all costs. If Paul asked you to do something, it wasn't a request, it was an order. I'm your host, Brandon James Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:22:21 You can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Being a part of a royal family might seem enticing, but more often than not, it comes at the expense of everything, like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head. Even the Royals is a podcast from Wondery that pulls back the curtain on royal families, past and present, from all over the world
Starting point is 00:22:46 to show you the darker side of what it means to be royalty. Like the true stories behind the six wives of Henry VIII, whose lives were so much more than just, divorced beheaded died, divorced beheaded survived. Or Esther of Burundi, a princess who fled her home country to become France's first black supermodel. There's also Queen Christina of Sweden, an icon who traded in dresses for pants,
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Starting point is 00:23:23 or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge Even The Royals ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. On March 1st, 2008, investigators with the Ellis County Sheriff's Office are processing the scene where a human leg has just been recovered on the edge of Lake Bardwell. We felt we needed to search the area looking for the rest of the victim's body or more
Starting point is 00:23:49 parts. We didn't find any blood at the scene. We didn't find any other physical evidence. Everything appeared to be that the location at the lake was strictly a dump site. outside. With a likely homicide on their hands, detectives immediately send the severed limb to the coroner for analysis and search the missing persons database. As they're looking through all of these missing persons cases, they land on George Frazier, missing since February 18th.
Starting point is 00:24:24 We learned that the Ennis Police Department, which was near our location, actually did have an open missing person case for George Frazier. Since both of the cases were in this close proximity, the description matched. We had a pretty good suspicion that this leg was probably that of Mr. Frazier.
Starting point is 00:24:43 We were able to get from his sister and some DNA items additionally from Gloria. They got a toothbrush. And so they were able to compare the DNA, and it was George's leg. Detectives head to the home George shared with his partner, Gloria, to deliver the tragic news. When the investigators went to tell Gloria
Starting point is 00:25:09 that George was deceased, she was not overly emotional in terms of crying and things like that. So that caught the investigators off guard when that happened. So now we're going to hit Gloria Aiken much harder than before. So now we're going to hit Gloria Aiken much harder than before. On March 3rd, Gloria agrees to sit down with investigators for a polygraph examination. I believe the question of polygraph were, did you have any knowledge of George's disappearance? Were you involved in any way in George's disappearance?
Starting point is 00:25:40 There weren't but two or three questions. She continues to maintain her innocence. She continues to maintain she knows nothing about George's disappearance. Though Gloria is adamant of her innocence, the test suggests otherwise. She failed. I knew she was lying. The part that Gloria failed was the question asking about whether she participated in George's being missing or in his dismemberment.
Starting point is 00:26:10 So that was very important to investigators at the time. The detectives informed Gloria that she's failed. And at this point, she clams up. Detectives press Gloria by showing her a photo of the leg found on the shore of Lake Bardwell. That's when she started tearing up. She knew whose leg it was. She knew exactly whose leg it was.
Starting point is 00:26:34 She stood up and said, I got to go. And I said, this is your last chance to talk to us. And she said, I got to go and left. The next day, we got a call from an attorney that was representing her and said that he did not want us talking to his client. Since Gloria's no longer talking, since she's lawyered up, they're going to have to play tough. We had the polygraph examinations, but those aren't admissible in Texas.
Starting point is 00:26:59 They thought there would have been more evidence found at the home. So they get a search warrant to search this house and the cars again. On March 11, 2008, detectives arrive at Gloria's home for a more comprehensive search. This time they also went in with crime scene technicians from the DPS crime lab. We took a computer. There was a 9-millimeter pistol we seized. They found blood in a Jeep. They found blood in a bathroom. And Dorinda Clark found a large amount of blood on a chair in an ottoman in the wall of the living room.
Starting point is 00:27:37 And it appeared somebody tried to clean it up at some point, and they didn't do a very good job. They find a baseball bat that has blood stains and pieces of hair on it. That kind of made us think that this is our primary crime scene. Despite the evidence, some details of the crime aren't adding up with the supposed crime scene. In most of the places, there were very small droplets of blood. I think the theory was he was killed in the home, taken to some other location for dismemberment, and then his body parts thrown out in different locations.
Starting point is 00:28:16 Convinced that George was killed in his home, detectives do a neighborhood canvas. What emerges from this is that George was really well thought up by the neighbors, but Gloria not so much. We were all pretty good friends. She would get on to him all the time, just anything, anything he did. It seemed like every time I went to the house to pick him up, there was something, fighting about something, we would leave. And then he wouldn't make the comments, she's all about money.
Starting point is 00:28:42 Neighbors say that money wasn't the couple's only problem. George thought she was having an affair. With this new information, investigators must consider if Gloria's alleged lover had anything to do with the crime. I want to know if he's got any knowledge about any potential homicide, or if he was involved in the disappearance or the dismemberment of George Frazier.
Starting point is 00:29:07 If he does know something and didn't give information, he could potentially be charged with some criminal activity himself or if he participated in some way in helping Gloria. On March 12th, 2008, detectives subpoenaed Gloria's phone records, hoping to uncover the name of her alleged lover. When they got her phone records, they
Starting point is 00:29:29 could tell who was calling and what time they were calling. They saw that there was one particular number that she called very often. That person ended up being Mr. Odatola, a person who also worked with her at the prison. Phone records pointed to him as being the most called person. On March 21, investigators head to Hutchins State Jail to interview the man on the call log, Olatun Bosen Oditala. He admitted he'd been dating her since like August of 2007.
Starting point is 00:30:06 She had told him that she wasn't married, that she was living with two old aunts that were rich and would cut her off if they knew that she was seeing anybody. They saw each other regularly. He would rent a hotel room in Corsicana, which is about 30 minutes down the road. When detectives break the news that Gloria did, in fact, have a partner of 10 years, Ola Thunboson appears genuinely shocked. He says that he had no idea who George was,
Starting point is 00:30:35 didn't even know that Gloria was in a relationship with anyone. He confesses that he had been in the home, but had no idea that George even existed. Ola Tunbosin says that within the past three weeks, Gloria had asked him to move in with her. If she's going to invite another guy to move in with her, after George had been reported missing, she was fairly calm and George wasn't coming back.
Starting point is 00:31:01 Coming up, more gruesome evidence is recovered from the depths of another Texas lake. Arms have been removed and the body has been cut just below the chest. And detectives set a trap for their prime suspect. We asked him, you're going to be a witness or a suspect. If that I catch you, call me Cindy Mother. You need to listen and children f***ing out. April 2008, six weeks after the disappearance of George Frazier, Ennis police are speaking with Olatun Bosin Oditala, the lover of George's partner, Gloria Aiken. They were looking at Gloria. So now they're also trying to figure out,
Starting point is 00:31:48 what is the motive, right? Can we prove that Gloria had a motive to kill George? Why would she want him dead? Once this evidence of an affair was discovered, he then became a person of interest in that, did he help her do this? With nothing to hold Olatun Bosun on, investigators let him go for now and begin digging deeper
Starting point is 00:32:10 for Gloria's potential motive, starting with the couple's finances. She was trying to pay all the bills. He wasn't really contributing a whole lot at that point. But detectives soon uncover one way Gloria could get money from George. There's a $250,000 life insurance policy from George. This $250,000 life insurance policy became a real legitimate motive
Starting point is 00:32:34 for why she would want him, you know, dead. She could gain a hefty life insurance policy to live the life that she wanted to lead. While investigators continue looking into a possible financial motive, another clue washes ashore on a nearby lake on April 5, 2008, five weeks after the discovery of George's leg. There was a person around Ritzland Chambers Lake that was doing some sort of landscaping or yard work.
Starting point is 00:33:04 He thought it was, you know, somebody cleaned some fish and threw the guts in the bag, dumped it, you know, it flies stuff around it. He goes in to look at it and finds a hidden horse-o in the bag. The Freestone County Sheriff's Department quickly responds to the scene. There was quite a bit of decomposition. The arms had been removed and the body had been cut just below the chest. It happens to be an African American male. They believe between 25 and 50.
Starting point is 00:33:37 Everybody's just kind of assuming the torso and the head probably belongs to George. The body parts are immediately sent to the crime lab for analysis. We looked at the photos and it was pretty obvious in the crime scene photo that's who it was. But just to confirm we went ahead and did the dental records and it was George Frazier. On April 6th, the autopsy report lands on the desk of Ennis Police Detective Dorinda Clark. He had been shot twice in the head. It was a.22 caliber pistol. Detective Clark also receives the DNA results from the blood found inside Gloria and George's home.
Starting point is 00:34:18 DNA confirmed that all of the blood that was found on the ottoman, the couch, the TV, the baseball bat, the wall, and the master bathroom all belonged to George. Dorenda, she wanted to lock Gloria up. She knew Gloria wasn't guilty. We all did. She used to always say, we're going to get her. She wasn't going to let it rest. She was determined not to let it rest. She was determined not to let it rest.
Starting point is 00:34:46 But just as the pieces are coming together, Detective Clark gets a devastating setback. They were looking for a small caliber gun, like a.22. I believe she had a 9-millimeter in her house, so it did not match. The weapon we seized from the house was not the weapon that shot him. There was a lot of evidence, but it was all circumstantial.
Starting point is 00:35:09 Determined to connect Gloria to the crime, Detective Clark turns to the one person who may have been more involved than they're letting on. I had a doubt that she was the one that did the cutting, you know. I just, I thought that was a little extreme for a spouse to dismember a human body. It would have been really tough for Gloria to do this all on her own. And so now they're wanting to know, did the boyfriend have something to do with this? On April 24, 2008, detectives ask Gloria's boyfriend, Ola Tunbosin Oditala, to come in for a polygraph exam. He passed the part of the polygraph that asked about participation in the offense. In the dismemberment or the homicide, he failed the part about the knowledge of the offense.
Starting point is 00:36:01 He just denied that he had any knowledge of it. He just was not really cooperative at first until we asked him, you going to be a witness or suspect? He chose witness. He would do anything he could do to clear his name at that point. On April 25, Ola Thunbosen agrees to wear a wire during a conversation with Gloria. I was with them for like eight hours. What? Man, everything. They know everything from 83.
Starting point is 00:36:49 Know what? Check this out. Gloria, you told me you don't have any man living with you. But they said you live together. The boyfriend's putting a lot of pressure on her. He's accusing her. They said they're going to arrest me. For what? I don't know. I don't have any money, nothing. So you need to ask me. His boyfriend's putting a lot of pressure on her. He's accusing her. The conversation with him and Gloria, they got pretty heated.
Starting point is 00:37:22 The conversation with him and Gloria, it got pretty heated. Suddenly she becomes very combative, and that's when their voices get raised. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything.
Starting point is 00:37:54 Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Everything. Can we help you? Check my head out, please. What's going on in this building, man? I don't know. What are you fighting about?
Starting point is 00:38:10 Oh, we're not fighting. I just thought… The officer's presence puts an end to the argument and any chance of Gloria incriminating herself on the wire. Without a confession from Gloria, the case quickly loses momentum. I would have wanted a confession because it was all circumstantial. We took what we had to the DA's office. The chief felony prosecutor reviewed it. Felt like there was enough to arrest but not enough to prosecute.
Starting point is 00:38:42 So much of the case has loose ends and juries don't like loose ends. Everything needs to be tightened up. There weren't any post-polygraph admissions that were made by either Mr. Otatola or Gloria that we could use. I don't think anybody realistically believed that Mr. Otatola did any of this. We still had to prove that she intentionally and knowingly caused his death. And so it kind of just dropped off at that point.
Starting point is 00:39:12 It became a cold case. Though investigators try to build a case, five years pass with no developments. Then, the investigation hits another roadblock when lead detective Dorinda Clark is diagnosed with leukemia in March of 2013. That does have an effect on a case because as a lead investigator, you've got a lot of things in your head that may not necessarily be written down somewhere.
Starting point is 00:39:43 Ennis is a small police department. She had institutional knowledge in her brain. As Dorinda endures grueling rounds of chemotherapy, Gloria moves on with her life. Gloria cashed in that $250,000 life insurance policy. Another setback for the cops is Gloria decides to remake her life in South Carolina. So now she's a thousand miles away. Coming up, will Gloria get away with murder? There's a lot of witnesses and testimony that was lost forever. It's not required for us to prove motive in Texas, but everybody always wants to know.
Starting point is 00:40:34 By 2013, the murder case against Gloria Akin has been on hold for five years after facing several hurdles. Unfortunately, time is not a friend of this investigation because during those years when the case was dormant, several key family members die. There's a lot of witnesses and testimony that was lost forever. While the investigation has setbacks,
Starting point is 00:41:02 lead detective Dorinda Clark receives promising news following her leukemia diagnosis. She went into remission and came back to work. She is doggedly determined. She needs answers. She wants to get Gloria. Dorinda came back to work and man, she got fired up. We had a new prosecutor at the time, Duke Chief Felton Prosecutor. We put a PowerPoint program together and sat down with her, showed her the PowerPoint. It was, like I said, mostly a circumstantial case. The new prosecutor, he said, hey, listen to either.
Starting point is 00:41:42 In April 2014, the Ellis County District Attorney's Office presents the evidence to a grand jury. Prosecutors argue that Gloria was tired of supporting George. I think Gloria got a little greedy and wanted money and she found another way to get her hands on money. Life insurance. She had like a $250,000 insurance policy on him. The insurance policy would be a big motivator. Prosecutors argue that on February 17, 2008, George had settled into his favorite chair for the evening.
Starting point is 00:42:18 All signs point to George is either asleep or watching TV, that Gloria takes a baseball bat, hits him over the head. Just based on what they found, a baseball bat with blood stains and pieces of hair, he clearly was beat up. I think to disable him, to knock him out and then finish him off with the pistol. and then finish him off with the pistol. I think she hauled him in that Jeep until that blood got in there. Cut him up with a matter of operator saw sometime.
Starting point is 00:42:55 Put him in bags and took him to the lake. I always thought that there might have been another party involved. It might have been an accomplice, but we just didn't have the evidence. All of the facts and circumstances were brought out to the grand jury, and they ultimately decided to indict her for a murder.
Starting point is 00:43:17 After the arrest warrant comes out, she's found in South Carolina. She was ultimately arrested, and then waived extradition back to Texas to stand charges here. We had her transported back to Ellis County. We tried to interview at the Ellis County jail. She didn't want to talk to us. And she started crying.
Starting point is 00:43:39 In 2016, while Gloria awaits trial, the case is dealt a final blow when Dorinda's cancer returns. She had ups and downs. We thought she was going to make it. She was doing great. And then she crashed. On July 8, 2016, after decades in law enforcement, Dorinda dies at again. And once she got sick,
Starting point is 00:44:06 it... again, and died. You know, you lost your lead investigator at that point. Essentially what we had was a crime scene being in this house. That's where Gloria lived. It's not required for us to prove motive in Texas. We, you know, really realized that we were not going to be able to do this trial because of Dorinda Clark not being available.
Starting point is 00:44:31 We decided we needed to, to plea this out and get the best option we could in the end. On May 19th, 2017, prosecutors offer Gloria a plea deal, reducing her murder charge to manslaughter. She pleaded guilty. It took 12 years. I was pretty upset about it. 12 years wasn't enough. You shoot a guy and cut him up and put him
Starting point is 00:44:57 in two different lakes. I believe it's worth more than 12 years. She took his life and all the people he's going to touch and all the people he has touched. And she got 12 years. She took his lie and all the people he's gonna touch and all the people he has touched and she got 12 years. That's not justice. That's a crime in itself. Gloria isn't a bad person. Not even at all. She's not to me and I just can't imagine how she could do
Starting point is 00:45:29 these things that she's accused of and that she pled guilty to. It was just a waste to take a man's life like that in such a manner. That's just horrible. It's horrible. And the world's not a better place. It's a lesser place without George in it. Gloria is currently serving her sentence at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
Starting point is 00:46:01 She is projected to be released in 2026 at the age of 59. Olatun Bosun Oditala was never charged in connection to George's death. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New 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 have earned it. It just happens to all of them. 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.
Starting point is 00:46:47 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.

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