The Deck - Gregory Goodson (Ace of Clubs, North Carolina)

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

Our card this week is Gregory Goodson, the Ace of Clubs from North Carolina.  When 16-year-old Gregory vanished from a bus stop in September 2005, his family immediately knew something wasn’t right. A few days later, a terrifying discovery would prove that their worst fears were right and send police on a desperate search for answers that now, even 18 years later, has yet to end.  If you know anything about the murder of Gregory Goodson in September 2005, you can call the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department at 704-336-6614 and ask for Detective Phillip Thompson. To learn more about The Deck, visit www.thedeckpodcast.com. To apply for the Cold Case Playing Cards grant through Season of Justice, visit www.seasonofjustice.org Follow The Deck on social media and join Ashley’s community by texting [phone] to stay up to date on what's new!

Our card this week is Gregory Goodson, the Ace of Clubs from North Carolina. When 16-year-old Gregory vanished from a bus stop in September of 2005, his family immediately knew something wasn't right. A few days later, a terrifying discovery would prove their worst fears true and send police on a desperate search for answers that even 18 years later has yet to end. I'm Ashley Flowers and this is the deck. It was early Wednesday morning and Kyle Goodson was up in Adam preparing for a long day of teaching at the local middle school. Before leaving for the day, she wanted to make sure her 16-year-old son Gregory, who was a high school junior, wouldn't be late for class.

I went to his bedroom and I said, Gregory, I walked down the hall and I said, Gregory, wake up, wake up, it's time to get up. class. Kyle wasn't super worried, though, because her son was really close with her parents, and he'd often sleep over at their place, which was nearby. He usually told her beforehand, but Kyle figured it just slipped his mind. Then I called my mother immediately, and I said, hey, mom, did Gregway spend the night there? And she said, no, I haven't heard from Gregway. I immediately felt a bit in my stomach.

I knew then that something happened. My heart sunk because my son would usually call me and tell me if he was going to stay out. And it all became real to me that he was missing." Still clinging to the hope that maybe he'd just forgotten to call and stay the night at a friend's, Kyle called one of his friends to figure out if they'd seen him that morning. But they hadn't. By the following day, everyone was ready to officially report Gregory missing, so his grandfather called the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department to file a report, and investigators

got busy. They jumped in right away and talked with friends and family to find out what Gregory's last moves were and when he dropped off the map. They learned that Tuesday after school led out, he was seen getting off the bus at a stop by his grandparents apartment complex. But if he was getting off at that stop to swing by his grandparents place, then he never made it. He was scheduled to work that evening, but investigators confirmed with the management there that he never showed up.

So it really seemed like after he got off the school bus that afternoon, he just vanished. Detectives continued doing what they could, but at this point they had no tangible leads to follow. That is, until Friday, when they got their first big break in the case. Here's Detective Philip Thompson describing the call dispatchers in Charlotte got that day. A gentleman was riding an ATV along the right-away path that runs along a pipeline that's in the woods right off the 57-hundred block of Simpson Road in Charlotte. So as he's riding his ATV,

he sees what appears to be a body laying in the pathway. Police arrived at the scene which was a heavily wooded, low traffic kind of area, and they confirmed that the person there was dead. In fact, it seemed like the victim, a young male, had been there a while, at least hours, maybe even days. He looked to be in his teens, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with no shoes on. And it looked like he'd been shot,

but not there at the scene. It appeared that he had been killed somewhere else and then just dumped there. Pretty quickly, police made the connection that the deceased individual looked a lot like Gregory Goodson. But before investigators could reach out to Kyle and let her know about the discovery,

she found out a different way. I got a phone call, probably about 7pm, and it wasn't from my father when he said, Kyle, come over. I just heard on the news that they found the body of a missing black male in a wooded area. He said it was a news clip, and I don't want you to hear it by yourself, so come over. Kyle knew in her heart something bad had happened to Gregory since he never came home. But she couldn't bring herself to believe that something this terrible had happened to her child.

It was shortly after watching the news clip that Kyle was contacted by police. They told her what she already knew and said that they were going to do a DNA test to confirm. I kept praying, saying, I hope that the DNA doesn't come back that it says, but he never came on. So, I was scared, but I kind of knew, because if on one hand, he didn't call. When the phone rang, I always hoped it was him. And it never was, so it was really sad, because it was never him on the phone.

And then he'd never walked through the door. So I kind of knew that they were going to say that the DNA was Gregory's. And so it was a very scary thing. Neurvis, hoping that it wouldn't be but understanding, seeing that there was evidence that it possibly could be, because he never called. Now I do want to point out a discrepancy between our sources here, because Detective Thompson said he couldn't find any mention of DNA testing in the case file.

He said that Gregory was positively ID the following day through, quote, photographs and items that were on his person, end quote. I mean, it's possible that they identified him like that and then went through the DNA testing just to be 100% sure, but I don't know. Either way, the results everyone had been waiting for eventually came in and police delivered the official news to Gregory's family in person. They came back to my parents' house and I was there and I was outside on a patio with my mother and Kelly came through the living room. Kelly's my twin sister.

She came through the door and said the detectors are here. So we all gathered around the dining room table and they said that the DNA proved that that was Gregory's body and it was just downhill from then. In the time it took to ID Gregory, there was another big break in the case. Police got a call from two men who said that they had found something weird on the side of the road. They were driving home from work. They were on a mud-handicened road near the intersection of Carrington-Rish-Drys. So they're driving down the road. They observed what appears to be a red book bag on the side of the road.

So they didn't stop at that time. So they decided if it was there on the way back in the morning on the way to work they would stop and sure enough the book back was still there. The men said they pulled over to check out the bag and inside they saw things that had North Mecklenburg High School and the name Gregory Goodson written on them. So they called the high school to let them know they'd found a student's backpack, but to their surprise, the school's administrator instructed them to call 911 right away. Investigators responded to the location, which was about 16 miles from where the victim,

assumed to be Gregory, was found just days prior. They were able to confirm that the backpack was in fact Gregory's, and that nothing had been taken from it. So obviously the question was how did it get there? And detectives quickly came up with a theory. I think we'll have a kill, Greg. I guess as they're leaving the crime scene, a few miles down the road, they discovered that there's a book back in the back seat. So that's when they discarded the book back. That's what I think happened. So, that's when they discarded the book back. That's what I think happened. Police took the backpack into evidence and the probe into Gregory's murder continued. But the more they learned about who Gregory was, the more they were scratching their heads.

Because it seemed like everyone who knew Gregory really liked him and thought he was a good kid who always stayed out of trouble. It didn't seem like anyone had a reason to want him dead. I'm speaking with some of the kids in the neighborhood through their interviews. They said they've never seen Greg do any drugs and they're a watering thing. So, like he was just teenage kid,

just athletic, you know, worked for this to happen. You know, the only thing he's Charlotte for just a little over a year, not like he had deep roots here in Charlotte, though, he those fairly new to the area. This is just mind-boggling why this will happen to this young man. Friends and family also said they hadn't noticed Gregory acting weird or anything in the days leading up to his disappearance and murder. So it wasn't like he knew someone had it out for him. I mean, you know, the usual grade, pleasant, didn't say anything about fear for his life

or nothing like that, just typical grade. Robbery didn't seem like a likely motive at this point, because like I mentioned earlier, when his backpack was found, nothing seemed to be missing from it. The only thing they didn't find on his body were his shoes. As the days dragged by with no substantial movement in the case, Kyle was left in the dark, waiting for answers she was hopeful were just right around the corner. She wanted justice for Gregory, but more than anything she just missed her son, and she longed to see his smile just one more time. Gregory was the best thing in my life. Gregory was just the most wonderful son. I just thought

it was blessing to be a mother because he gave me no trouble. He went to school, he did his work, he came home, he went to work after that, he just was so well-rounded. It was just so shocking to me that that would happen because it was just in the prime of his life. He had so much to give his life. His story was hardly written, you know, it was just barely written, you know, and he had so much more to give and so it was difficult and still is today that he can't be here to do whatever he could have done. And I know he had a lot to give. Gregory was remembered fondly in the community for his love of basketball and his aspirations

of being a D1 athlete. More than that, he was remembered for his generosity. Gregory was working two jobs at the time of his death and Kyle has worn memories of him coming home after a long day of work and giving her all of his tips. She just said, you know what I made this money? It's not that much, but at least I can give it to my mother. And he was just so loved and such a wonderful kid. I was blessed to have him. I couldn't have had a better son.

I couldn't have had anything better. I think God gave me a wonderful thing. While Gregory's family was coming to terms with their unspeakable loss, investigators felt like they were finally getting somewhere with the investigation. Because they caught wind of some rumors creeping around town about something that had happened at school a week or two before Gregory disappeared.

The rumor was that basically one of Gregory's friends was getting jumped by some other guys and Gregory didn't help and Spodly the friends were Remained about this This friend who had been getting jumped we've been asked to call Connor Now Connor was around 17 or 18 years old and he was supposedly good friends with Gregory and the two of them were kind of part of this Friend group with two other guys who were going to call Mike and John. Allegedly, the friends were so mad about Gregory not helping Connor that at one point they actually chased him around with a baseball bat and a machete. After hearing these rumors, investigators tracked down Connor and asked him to come in for an interview

so they could hear his side of the story. So Connor when he was interviewed said that of course he was questioning about chasing after Greg and some individuals, someone had a bat and he said no one was on with the bat but we were trying to talk Greg and Greg took off running so we did chase after Greg called we wanted to talk to him but he, no one saw the courage at that time. We didn't jump on the grave, we didn't fight the grave. He referred to the grave as his friend, one of his buddies. So according to Connor, there was a confrontation between him and Gregory, but it wasn't physical and it certainly didn't involve weapons.

He said it was purely verbal. It's worth noting that there was talk at the time of Connor possibly being involved in a gang, or hanging out with gang members, but Detective Thompson didn't think this was ever something that they were able to confirm. Anyway, after speaking with Connor, police sat down with the other two friends, Mike,

and John, who didn't have much to add, beyond what Connor already said. And there are all the stores were consistent with one another that there was a confrontation which was a verbal confrontation between Gregory and Connor and they were present, but it didn't get physical. When they admitted to Conor being in a fight and Gary were not helping, and that's why Conor was mad. But they said, you know, they're all friends, but they said they can see why Conor would have been upset,

but definitely wasn't nothing that weren't him to want to kill Gregory. Now, investigators weren't just gonna take Conor, Mike, and John's word for it, so they went and checked with the school security to see if they had a record of a fight between Gregory and Connor. And they did. There was not a physical school fight. There was a verbal altercation which was broken up by school security, which intervened

before things even got physical, or if they were even going to get physical. But no, there was no physical altercation between Gregoran Connor." Just because the fight a week or so before Gregory's disappearance wasn't physical didn't mean Connor or his friends completely dropped off the list of suspects for detectives, but they had no physical evidence to suggest that they were involved in Gregory's murder either. Not wanting to put all of their eggs in one basket, they moved on. But you know the saying, when one door closes, a window may open.

Well, that's just when an investigative window was about to open. About a month into the investigation, someone turned in evidence that they had been holding from police. It was Gregory's shoes. The very shoes missing from his body when he was found. Detective Thompson wouldn't name the person who brought in the shoes or give many details, but he did say that that person admitted to stealing the shoes from Gregory's dead body. He said they felt bad for taking the sneakers and wanted to do the right thing by returning them. Again, I want to reiterate that Detective Thompson was pretty tight-lipped about who this person was. He wouldn't say if it was one of the people who found Gregory's body and called 911, or if it was somebody completely different.

But he did say that the individual is not a person of interest in Gregory's death. When I heard this, I was kind of taken it back for a moment, because I mean, here you have someone admitting to stealing a dead man's shoes, and they're just kind of let off the hook. To be fair I don't know if they carefully vetted this person and determined from there that they weren't involved. I don't know how old this person was like maybe they were just a kid and didn't really know any better.

I don't know. But this is something that I kind of spiral on. And so does Kyle. The person took the shoes he was never held accountable for that. And so I never understood why that was not such a substantiating thing. Why it wasn't such a big deal. It was big to me as Gregory's mother. It was very big that someone would come into a crime scene and steal a piece of evidence.

That's what it was, a piece of evidence that he just stole. Why are you so interested in those shoes when you kill somebody you want to take something? It's like a trophy. So why isn't he interesting to you? He should have had some interest. First of all, he might have stepped on something in that crime scene that you needed. You should be mad, but they didn't get mad. You know, it just reminds me of the the injustice that black people go through every day. Craigwee is a young black boy. It can be analogized to what happened with George Floyd, which doesn't seem like, but it's like people are not giving him any justice. It bothers me. It has bothered me for years, for a decade. I just haven't said anything

because again, sometimes you don't have enough emotional stamina to do it, you know. But I have spoken to lawyers about it and they did want me to push it further. Because what do you mean? He just compromised the crime scene. He stole some sneak of sea committed a crime. You can get him for something, but they wouldn't. Right around the time Gregory's shoes were recovered, his autopsy was conducted. The ME determined that his cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the chest, and there were a few small abrasions on his body, which Detective Thompson attributes to being dragged through the woods when his body was being dumped.

But one thing that stood out to police was that there were no defensive wounds found on his body. It could have been someone that he was comfortable with, so he could have his guard down, he wasn't on the defense. That would be my take on it. So I don't think it was like an abduction who of his weth if they do is in the vehicle I think he probably went with them unwillingly not knowing what was going to happen. I don't think it was forced into the

vehicle. I think it's just this was a planned thing by the by the assailant and just surprise attack on Gregory. Although investigators understanding of what happened to Gregory and how was becoming clearer, they were getting no closer to figuring out the why or who of it all. And as time passed by, Gregory's case grew cold. Over the years, more rumors surfaced about Gregory and what possibly led to his death. Investigators never found any evidence to prove that this was anything more than a rumor, but they didn't discount it as entirely impossible. They knew it was just a theory, and very well could be nothing more.

The years continued to pass by, and the lack of movement in Gregory's case was tough for his family to accept. They desperately wanted answers, and for Gregory's killer or killers to be held accountable, which is something they knew that they could do nothing but wait for. In the meantime though Kyle wanted to do everything she could to make sure no more families had to go through the pain of losing a child to gun violence. So in 2017 she founded a nonprofit organization in honor of Gregory called Not One More or NoMo. I have created a nonprofit to be Gregory's legacy and a legacy of all young people are killed by gun violence. And our mission is to prevent gun-related deaths in Mecklenburg County.

No Moe stands for Not One More, like Not one more child should be killed from gunfire. Not one more parents should bury a child. Not one more school should have to deal with a gun attack. We shouldn't have to live in a world where firearms are controlling everything, but it is the first cause of death for young people. And so it shouldn't have to be. As for the investigation today, things are still ice cold. But Detective Thompson has far from giving up on solving the case.

He was actually just assigned the case in January of this year, and he has big plans for getting the investigation out of the rut that it's been stuck in. First thing we always like to do is just go back through the evidence and see if there's anything that possibly could have been this or something, you know, technology has advanced and things that back in 2005 might not have had the expertise or the equipment to do certain things but instead there's anything applicable then to go back and go that route and try to just first step will be go back through the evidence and next we will go through and probably start reading and viewing some of the people that were in view back in 2005 and in the following years.

He also wants to see what DNA testing can be done on Gregory's backpack with new technology like M-VAC. He says the department has seen great results from that kind of testing for other cases, and he's hopeful that it'll do the same for Gregory's case. For the time being though, Gregory's family and his mom Kyle are left mourning a life taken too soon, and without any answers. His smile. I miss his smile. I miss his warm, beautiful smile. I miss his hugs.

I love you, Mom. I miss him talking to me. I just miss everything about him. I miss his person. I just miss him. Oh my gosh, I miss hearing his voice. I miss mothering him. I just miss everything about him.

If you were to take anything away about who Gregory was, I would want you to take away that. He gave me the best opportunity of being a mother to a son. He taught me what it is to mother a son. He taught me how sons are supposed to treat their mother and what a son should do, how a son should live his life correctly. Take away from this that Gregory was my heartbeat. That Gregory meant the world to me. He was everything. Gregory Goodson was the world and if you knew anything about him being killed

please report it because you might have a brother you might have a father or uncle you wouldn't want this to happen to them and nobody say anything so please if you know something please say something because it's important that we work together because then if we do that people won't be so apt to kill in each other so if you know anything about Gregory's't be so apt to kill each other. So if you know anything about gravity's death, please call in to the police station and let them know so that they can take care of it. You can call the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department at 704-336-6614 and ask for detective

Philip Thompson. If you'd like to make a donation to Kyle's nonprofit to help stop gun violence in Mecklenburg County, visit not1mo.org. That's N-O-T-O-N-E-M-O.org. The Deck is an audio-chuck production with The Music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit the DeckPodcast.com.

So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve?