Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E180: Sherese Walker Bingham
5k Plays3 years ago
Sherese Walker Bingham took her two well-trained and protective German Shepherds for a walk on December 12th, 2012. Not long after she arrived to a local park, she was shot. Was it a tragic accident? Did the dogs let a stranger get close enough to commit the crime? Or, was the perpetrator someone known to Sherese whom the dogs also knew intimately?
BlendJet Offer: Use my special link (https://zen.ai/coffeeandcasespod4) or go to blendjet.com and use code coffeeandcasesblend12 to save 12% at blendjet.com. The discount will be applied at checkout!
Motley Fool Offer: Save $110* off the full list price of Stock Advisor for your first year, go to zen.ai/coffeefool and use promo code coffeeandcases and start your investing journey today!
*$110 discount off of $199 per year list price.Membership will renew annually at the then current list price.
Cure Hydration: Try Cure today and feel the difference for yourself! Use my special link (https://zen.ai/coffeeandcasespod20) for 20% off your order, coupon activated at checkout!
Please consider supporting the pod by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date on all our regular content? Get access to monthly mini-episodes as well as one full solved case per month by joining today! Be a part of the C & C Fam by going to https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases to register!
Recommended
Transcript
Why are dogs man's best friend?
00:00:00
Speaker
It's a popular saying that dogs are a man's best friend. But I don't think that's because of how excited they get when we return home or the cheerful looking smiling faces they have when you play catch. I think we ultimately have that saying because of the darker part of the relationship between dogs and humans. The protective nature they feel toward their owners and the distress they feel when we're not around.
00:00:27
Speaker
In fact, a study conducted by Arizona State University took 19 dogs in a study in which their owner was under duress in a box with a door that could be nudged open by the canines and had the owner call out for help.
00:00:43
Speaker
Six of the dogs successfully released to their owner. Still others tried, but were unable to figure out how to nudge the door open. Nearly all the dogs were distressed, whining and barking in their attempts at rescue.
00:00:59
Speaker
Certain breeds of dogs in terms of protection could be considered better than nearly any other form of protection, whether for raising an alarm or for going after someone attempting to cause harm. For dogs, their owner is their person, someone who needs to be cared for.
00:01:18
Speaker
In still other studies, scientists have found that dogs go through a range of emotions when we aren't around. They will mope and mourn, sometimes going on hunger strikes when you go on vacations. Other stories tell of dogs that have mourned their owners who have passed. One particular story from Japan tells of Hachiko, who used to meet his owner every day at the train station to walk home together. When his owner passed,
00:01:45
Speaker
Hachiko continued to go every single day to the train station, looking for his owner. This was an act he did for 10 years.
The case of Charisse Walker Bingham
00:01:56
Speaker
You've also likely seen the images of soldiers who returned home who were in charge of a canine, and the dog will lie down right before the coffin, still faithful.
00:02:08
Speaker
It's both of those characteristics that were observed by responding EMS in two German shepherds found at a crime scene on December 12th, 2012. No matter what EMS tried, the dogs were fiercely protecting the body of a woman face down and a puddle of blood on the paved walking path and white river trail at the edge of IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, Indiana.
00:02:38
Speaker
This is the case of Charisse Walker Bingham.
Introduction to 'Coffee and Cases' podcast
00:03:17
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:03:36
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because, as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
Charisse's life and family background
00:03:54
Speaker
So, Charisse Walker, who we're talking about this week, she was the youngest of three children. She had two older brothers and a very large extended family, all of whom she was close to. And Charisse herself was a caretaker.
00:04:12
Speaker
She loved doing everything that she could to take care of her mom when her mom grew ill, of helping out other family members. And although Charisse was described as reserved, people were drawn to her because of her kindness, yes, but also because of this drive and work ethic that she had. Yeah, she seems very
00:04:37
Speaker
driven I know especially being the baby sometimes that's not the characteristics they have you know to be the caregiver most of the time that's the oldest right but growing up she was involved in athletics in school and she was popular among her classmates
00:04:53
Speaker
And she was also beautiful Maggie. And I know it's cliche. I know we've said it a bajillion times before. But in every picture that I have seen of her, her joy just radiates from her face.
00:05:09
Speaker
I love the people that their happiness when they smile, you know, reflects in their eyes. Like you can tell how happy they are. It just, the smile seems genuine and not, I'm smiling for a camera. You know, she was also, and this makes sense since, you know, obviously from the intro that she owned at least two dogs as an adult, but she was always drawn to animals, especially German shepherds.
Charisse's bond with her German Shepherds
00:05:37
Speaker
And she always has been, since she was a young girl, also very good at training them. I am not. And they can be super stubborn. Yeah. I'm just not a good dog trainer. Oh, I'm a pushover. And they know, like they know it. Anthony does the majority of the training. I'm like, come to me to give loves.
00:06:00
Speaker
Or you'll be like, roll over and I'll give you this treat. And they just stand there looking and give you a kiss on the hand and you're like, okay, you get it anyway. There you go. But Charisse's aunt, Deborah McMurray, said in an interview with True Crime Daily that when Charisse was about nine or 10, she had a German Shepherd named Cruiser. And Charisse would make the dog pretty much do anything at that young age.
00:06:30
Speaker
And cruiser never left her side. So naturally when she gets older, she's like, I have to keep a dog like this near me. Exactly. Yeah. So even when you, you got it, when she grew older and cruiser was replaced with other dogs, she still had that skill at training, especially German shepherds. Those were the dogs that she was drawn to.
00:06:55
Speaker
And at the time of her death, she had two German shepherds, one named Mayday and the other named Tsunami.
00:07:03
Speaker
Those are good names for German Shepherds, I feel like. Those two dogs were fierce protectors of her, which we'll talk a little bit more about in just a moment when I tell you about the crime scene. But these dogs, Maggie, I have to tell you in general, were ones that even her family were on edge when they were around, when they would come to visit Charisse, especially if she had to leave the room or something during the visit.
00:07:34
Speaker
I mean, even people who knew her were freaked out. My mom had a, obviously this is much smaller than a German Shepherd, but she had a Jack Russell Terrier and his name was Rusty. And he very much was dedicated to her, like loved her more than anybody else.
00:07:55
Speaker
Like he bit my dad on the nose once when my dad like bent down to talk to my mom when she was sitting on the couch. And then Anthony was so scared of him that he would crawl. If Rusty was on the driver's side, outside his car, he would like crawl to the passenger side and go out that way. And he was, you know, a super tiny dog, but I get it. They can make you nervous, you know, that dedicated to one person.
00:08:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And Charisse's brother even said that it made him nervous to get too close when he would come to see his sister. He told Russ McQuaid of Fox 59, quote,
00:08:35
Speaker
I've been over to her house a couple times and I told her to put them dogs up. She said I'd be all right, but I was still scared. The way they looked at you and walked around you, I didn't want her to leave the room. You could not get near her without her putting the dogs on a leash or she'd tell them to come by her and stand by her. You had to know her personally and the dog to even touch her.
00:09:02
Speaker
end quote. Which makes me curious, and I know you'll talk about it, but how she could have been attacked with them with her. Yes, that is definitely something that we're going to talk about. And, you know, you've got to think, if this is the way that people who likely saw Charisse on a semi-regular basis felt,
00:09:27
Speaker
Imagine how you would feel if you were a stranger, like in the form of the EMS workers who were called to the scene, who were trying to approach Charisse. And of course, these dogs, they don't know these people from anybody and they don't understand their purpose. So they were protecting Charisse. Yeah, that would be a scary scene to walk up on. And while
00:09:54
Speaker
I don't know the exact time a call to 911 was made. EMS arrived at the White River Trail around 6.30 PM after a passing cyclist had called to report a body on the paved walking path lying face down in blood. But even the cyclist couldn't get too close because the two dogs were nervously circling Charisse's body.
00:10:24
Speaker
because I knew something was wrong. The cyclist told police that he had actually seen Charisse just minutes earlier. He said that he had passed by Charisse on that walking path. And because he had just passed by her and had seen her walking, we assume that she had just begun to walk her dogs. But the cyclist reported that the dogs were actually off leash.
00:10:53
Speaker
because Cherise had the leash kind of slung around her neck. And, but you know, she's good at training dogs and she, I'm sure knew that they would listen to her commands because he said when he passed by, his words were that Cherise had had to corral the dogs around her. So I'm guessing it's similar to what her brother said when she would say, hey, get over here, sit, you know, and of course they listened.
00:11:20
Speaker
So I have a feeling that it was something like that interaction that happened when the cyclist passed the first time. But when he came back through the area, again, just minutes later, that's when he discovered Charisse face down with the dogs on edge. That was the exact scene that EMS saw when they arrived.
00:11:45
Speaker
So while at 6.30 PM in December, it's already dark, they could still see a large amount of blood that was underneath Charisse's body. But anytime EMS tried to get close enough to Charisse to find the cause, to check her vitals, the dogs would, in their words, quote, act aggressively to anyone who got close and close. So I wonder how they even got
00:12:14
Speaker
to her, did they have to subdue the dogs? Were they like tranquilized or something? They actually were. So I mean, however you want to view it, the dogs, either as aggressive or just protective in this situation, it was clear that absolutely nothing was going to happen while the dogs were on the scene. So they had to call the Indianapolis Animal Control
00:12:41
Speaker
to come in and help. And they did end up having to tranquilize the dogs to remove them from the scene so that they could finally get in to check on Charisse. And so they can't even get close enough to her to see if she.
00:12:56
Speaker
dead at this point or just injured? Nope. Wow. Yeah. Not until the dogs were removed. Once they were able to get to her, they rolled her over, but maybe because of all the layers that she had on, because remember this is December in Indianapolis, they weren't able to initially determine where all of the blood was coming from.
00:13:20
Speaker
They were able to see some items that were around her body, which I'll tell you about in just a second. And those items told them this could be a potential crime scene. So they decided, even though they had rolled her over to check her vitals, that they weren't going to move her anymore until law enforcement got there. But they did, when they checked her vitals,
00:13:47
Speaker
find that Charisse had passed and they pronounced Charisse Walker Bingham deceased at 7 15 p.m. and you know a lot of the cases we cover the EMTs don't really think about that kind of thing like this could be a you know potential crime scene right so i know they get caught up and their adrenaline's pumping too and they're doing their job but it's nice that they you know step back from that for a second and realize there could be more happening than what
00:14:18
Speaker
is initially meeting the eye. Exactly, exactly. And not long after Maggie, police arrived to begin their investigation. Now, because the death occurred on what is considered state park property
00:14:33
Speaker
the jurisdiction actually fell to the Indiana state police rather than local authorities.
Eugene's suspicious timeline
00:14:41
Speaker
Interesting. And here is what they found at the scene of the crime. So, you know, I said there were some things around her body. Those items that were around her and there were several included her driver's license, which obviously made identification easy for authorities.
00:15:03
Speaker
a pair of gloves, an Indiana firearms carry permit, a 25 caliber handgun that was registered to Charisse, and an open flip phone that was beeping to signal a low battery. Did we say what year we're in? 2012. Okay. So they're thinking,
00:15:32
Speaker
You know, why are all these items scattered around her body versus in her pockets? Had she been mugged? Did something happen and was she desperately reaching for something like her phone to call for help and then everything else had fallen out of her pockets in the process? Why are all of these items surrounding her?
00:15:59
Speaker
What they could determine, however, was the cause of death at this point. A single gunshot wound to the chest. Was it her own gun? We will get to that. The casing and the gun, along with other items around her body, were taken from the scene as evidence. Now, at this point, would
00:16:29
Speaker
This would normally be what has to, in my mind, be the worst part of the job for law enforcement. Oh, telling the family? Yeah, notifying the family. But law enforcement actually didn't have to seek out immediate contacts in Sharice's case because Sharice's husband of 28 years, Eugene, came to them.
00:16:54
Speaker
walking right up to the officers at the scene at 11 23 PM. That's a little sis. Okay. Well, we'll talk about it. He said that he came out looking for his wife because he woke up from having fallen asleep on the couch while he was watching an NBA game. And when he woke up, it was around nine 30. And he noticed that Charisse wasn't home yet.
00:17:23
Speaker
And he said this was completely out of character for her because she was a creature of habit. And while she had only had her current job at the Gatorade bottling plant for just a short time, she'd already found a routine there as well. So on nights like this one, when she was to work the night shift, she had to be at work by 10.30 PM. So she had to leave the house by 10.
00:17:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Sophie wakes up at 9 30. She should be there, you know, ready to leave. Mm hmm. So her kind of normal routine is after dinner, she would exercise, shower, walk the dogs before gathering everything that she needed for work and heading out the door. So like you just said, when he woke up around 9 30, and he realizes Charisse isn't home, he started to worry that something had happened.
00:18:17
Speaker
So all of this is kind of making sense, right? Why he would have shown up.
00:18:22
Speaker
Yeah, we can justify it. Yeah, he said that he tried to call her cell phone from his home phone and she didn't answer. But that detail alone, he said, didn't make him grow any more concerned because, and I get, remember, this is 2012, so it is a different time. He said that Charisse would normally keep her phone turned off and she would only turn it on when she needed to make a call from it.
00:18:51
Speaker
I kind of wish I could be like that and just completely disconnect. I know that would be nice. So he told police that you know then he thought back to the last conversation he had with Charisse when she told him that she was going to take the dogs for a walk and he said that he had asked her where she was going to walk them because apparently
00:19:12
Speaker
She, again, she's a creature of habit. There were three normal spots where she would take the dogs for a walk and she would kind of alternate between those three places.
00:19:24
Speaker
So was where she was found one of those three places? It was one of those three places. So he reported that when he said, where are you going to walk the dogs? That she said something like, wherever my car takes me, and then had left. So he told law enforcement that he tried to call Charisse again, even though she hadn't answered the first time. This time he tried from his cell phone. And then he decided to come out and look for her. You know what, though?
00:19:53
Speaker
2012 does not seem like that long ago, but then I'm thinking about if this was me instead of Charisse, like Anthony would have obviously called my cell phone, which I would have had on because we all do. And then if I didn't answer or if I had told him wherever my car takes me, he would just pull up the app for my car and see where it's parked.
00:20:18
Speaker
Or he would just track me with the, what you call it, app and know exactly where I was. So things are just so different. Exactly. Yeah. So he told law enforcement that when he went out to look for Cherise, he had actually gone to the other two locations first.
00:20:37
Speaker
And not finding her at either of those, he had come to the third and final normal place. And when he arrived, he actually saw, because remember, this is at 11.23 PM. The call to 911 came in at 6.30. So when he got there, he saw crime scene tape around her vehicle. And so he knew something was horribly wrong. And that was why he said he had approached the officers.
00:21:08
Speaker
So maybe it's not as what it initially felt like. I will leave my comments for later. Okay. Maybe I'll come back to that. Put a pin in it Maggie. Yeah. My daughter and I love smoothies, but what we don't love are smoothie bar prices. With our Blinga 2 portable blender, we can make smoothie bar quality drinks for a fraction of the price.
00:21:35
Speaker
Blendjet 2 is portable so you can blend up a smoothie at work, a protein shake at the gym, or even a margarita on the beach. And it's small enough to fit in a cup holder, but powerful enough to blast through tough ingredients like ice and frozen fruit with ease. Even better, Blendjet 2 is whisper quiet, so you can make your morning smoothie without waking up the whole house. Plus, it lasts for 15 plus blends and recharges quickly via a USB-C.
00:22:01
Speaker
You guys have heard me say it before and I'll say it again. Best of all, the BlendJet 2 cleans itself. Just blend water with a drop of soap and you're good to go. Plus they have so many trendy colors to choose from, the hardest decision will be which design you want to rock. Plus we want to introduce you to the Orbiter Drinking Lid. The Orbiter Drinking Lid balances a leak proof design with one hand use convenience and a modern minimalist design.
00:22:30
Speaker
The Orbiter Drinking Lid is super easy to use. You only need one hand. BlendJet's patent pending design allows you to open and drink by simply rotating the lid with your thumb. Just when we thought the BlendJet 2 couldn't get any better, it did. Now you can blend anywhere without spilling
00:22:49
Speaker
everywhere. So what are you waiting for? Go to blendjet.com and grab yours today. And be sure to use the promo code coffeeandcasesblend12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. No other portable blender on the market comes close to the quality, power, and innovation of the BlendJet 2. They guarantee you'll love it or your money back.
00:23:11
Speaker
Blend anytime, anywhere with the BlendJet 2 Portable Blender. Go to blendjet.com and use the code COFFEEINCASESBLEND12 to get 12% off your order and free two-day shipping. Shop today and get the best deal ever.
00:23:27
Speaker
I don't know if it's been the same for you, but it feels like the price of everything keeps rising and my bank account keeps shrinking. Even when I had money passively sitting in investment accounts, those funds rarely rise at the rate of inflation, leaving me feeling like I was in the same boat. All of my money was going somewhere, but never coming back to me.
00:23:45
Speaker
The age of stock picking is here. With towering inflation and elevating interest rates, sticking your money in a passive market fund just isn't going to get you what it used to. But it doesn't mean that you have to abandon the market. There are still ways to invest for the future. You just need to know where to look.
00:24:04
Speaker
which is where the Motley Fool comes in. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor Service highlights two stocks each and every month for its members to add to their portfolios, and it literally has paid to listen to them. Historically, their average stock recommendation is up over 400%
00:24:23
Speaker
as of April 10th, 2023. And listeners of Coffee and Cases can now access Motley Fool Stock Advisor for just $89 for their first year. That's a full $110 off the list price. What are you waiting for? Visit fool.com forward slash podcast to start your investing journey today. Did you know that dehydration is the leading cause of daytime fatigue?
00:24:52
Speaker
I was shocked to learn that even mild dehydration can cause headaches, muscle weakness, and brain fog. But luckily there's a solution. Cure.
00:25:02
Speaker
CURE believes that hydration should be simple and effective, but also clean and natural. That's why they use only the highest quality plant-based ingredients and avoid any artificial and harmful additives. They're committed to transparency and honesty. All of their ingredients are clearly listed on their website and packaging, and they're always happy to answer any questions or concerns.
00:25:30
Speaker
Ready to combat dehydration? Track your today and feel the difference for yourself. Use code COFFEEINCASES for 20% off your order.
Crime scene findings and inconsistencies
00:25:42
Speaker
Of course, we are only hours into the investigation. So law enforcement is still trying to piece together a timeline as well as to figure out theories as to what might have happened because they started canvassing the area and no witnesses came forward that they had seen anything that was out of the ordinary.
00:26:07
Speaker
and no witnesses that they could find had even heard a gunshot. So the cyclist who passed her when we think she first started walking, I wonder how far away he could have been from her to turn around and see her not long after. Would he have been out of earshot of that? I'd really doubt it. I know. But maybe, I mean, this is, I did read that this walking path, it's near roadways.
00:26:37
Speaker
And it is a popular walking spot because it's near the Indiana University, Purdue University of Indianapolis. I think that's what it's called. Campus, so a lot of students would walk it. And so it could have been just, you heard a noise, and because it only happened once, you kind of brushed it off as, oh, maybe a car had a flat tire or something.
00:27:07
Speaker
So, when responders arrive around 6.30, they weren't even sure until they spoke with a cyclist if Charisse had just begun her walk, if she was finishing her walk. So, they're really trying to figure out
00:27:24
Speaker
how long has she been here, right? What are the events that happened just before? So again, police are trying to figure out the timeline. So they actually, I mean, here's her husband, ask him, what time does Charisse leave your home? And
00:27:44
Speaker
They found out that the couple's home was about three miles away. So roughly an eight minute drive. It was on Kessler Boulevard North. And he told them, well, I was just getting ready to watch the Miami Heat Golden State Warriors NBA game. It had just come on as Charisse was leaving.
00:28:09
Speaker
But there's a slight problem with this claim of a timeline, Maggie. Oh, did the game start at a different time than the, like, they arrived on the scene or the witness made the 911 call? Yeah, the NBA game didn't come on until around 7.30. And he's saying she left when the game had just come on, but Charisse's body had been found an hour before.
00:28:38
Speaker
before Eugene said he last saw his wife. So maybe he is a little sus. Right. But at this point, you know, one could chalk up that mistake to Eugene being disoriented. I mean, this is devastating news. Yeah. That he has just heard about his wife's death. So maybe he's not thinking clearly.
00:29:02
Speaker
We'll give him the benefit of the doubt for right now momentarily. Two days later, the coroner's report stated that the cause of death, as was previously discussed, was a gunshot wound to the chest.
00:29:15
Speaker
though the distance at which the shot had come was as yet undetermined. And that wasn't the only thing undetermined. So was the manner of death. So right now, without solid proof of a murder, even though the EMTs are saying, you know, we don't want to move her body because this looks like it could be a crime scene, it would be impossible to deem Charisse's death a homicide without that solid proof.
00:29:44
Speaker
Oh, right. Because it could have been a suicide because she had a gun. It could have been an accident. Exactly. And even with those two possibilities, it's impossible to rule those as the manner of death either because, again, we don't have solid proof. So the coroner's report lists the manner of death as undetermined.
00:30:11
Speaker
Now I'm going to do something a little bit different because normally I tell you and tell you and tell you about the stories. And then we get into the theories at the end, but I'm actually going to go ahead and tell you or have us talk about anyway, the theories now. And then I'll tell you a little bit more about the case because these were the theories that police were working through during the investigation. Right. And I guess
00:30:38
Speaker
Depending on the theory you take could change the way you view certain things about the case. Correct.
Why the suicide theory was rejected
00:30:46
Speaker
So theory number one was suicide. One of the lead detectives on the case, Detective Norvell, stated that they actually initially considered the suicide theory.
00:31:00
Speaker
This, of course, was a theory that even from the very beginning, Charisse's family completely denied as a possibility.
00:31:11
Speaker
They argued that Charisse loved life. She had just recently started this new job. She had joined a new church, the New Haven Missionary Baptist Church, and she was thriving. And Charisse's husband Eugene also stated that Charisse would never have taken her own life. He also said that Charisse was happy, and he noted that the two of them actually had just joined a new church.
00:31:39
Speaker
and had even both been rebaptized. Okay, so no telltale signs that there was any indication of suicide, but that's not always.
00:31:53
Speaker
you know, 100% determinant of that. Right. Now in this particular case, soon though, evidence did seem to mount up to indicate that Charissa's loved ones were correct, that suicide was far from likely. So while they actually didn't check Charissa's hands for gunpowder residue, which I would think would have been a test because- Especially if they are considering suicide.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah. That would be an easy way to determine that. But they did not. They did, though, have plenty of other reasons to support their conclusion. And here were what some of those reasons were, some of the evidence. Number one, when law enforcement checked Sharice's vehicle, she had actually placed an anti-theft mechanism on the steering wheel. Hmm.
00:32:46
Speaker
And I don't know if this kind of forethought to protect personal items would matter if someone planned to not return to get that item, right? Like why would you put that on your wheel of your vehicle if you were planning on committing suicide? Or I mean, I guess it could be looked at the other angle as well. Maybe she thought it could be a while before she was discovered on this trail. So she didn't want,
00:33:14
Speaker
somebody to steal her car that her husband could use, but then again, like, why would you put that much planning into it? So I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, second reason is that when her clothing was checked, they found snacks in her pockets of the coveralls. So again, now she had borrowed these coveralls from her husband, Eugene, but again,
00:33:35
Speaker
If one planned on taking one's life, I'm somehow doubting that they would pack a snack for the walk. Like I said, I don't know if that were her plan. Right, if she would happen. Exactly. But the dogs themselves are the biggest reason why suicide was eliminated as a theory.
00:33:56
Speaker
After all, it was said that because Charisse never had any children, that she loved these dogs as if they were her children. So if she were going to take her own life, she most definitely would not have taken her babies to a public place off leash where something bad could happen to them. And then of course commit this act in front of them.
00:34:25
Speaker
Right, knowing that they're going to protect her body fiercely when people come to the scene. Yeah, that part doesn't make sense. And if you were going to come here for that purpose, why do it in a public place on a fairly heavily trafficked trail where somebody could try to stop you or even save you? Right.
00:34:48
Speaker
Good point. Yeah. And besides, if this were a suicide, why would her personal items have been strewn about her body as if she had emptied her pockets? And why would her phone now be open and beeping as if she had tried to turn it on to call for help? Oh, right. Because it's usually off. So even if it was laying near her, if it was a suicide, it would have still been off. Right. And sadly, even though the coroner
00:35:17
Speaker
was able to determine that Charisse lived roughly seven minutes after being shot. She wasn't able to make whatever phone call she may have been attempting. And I also don't think if this were a suicide that, and this is just my gut,
00:35:41
Speaker
I don't think that the gunshot wound would have been to the chest, but rather to the head. Oh, I'm sure that there's data that shows the likelihood of it happening in the head or the chest or whatever. There is. According to the Journal of Forensic Sciences, 75%
00:36:03
Speaker
of all suicidal gunshot wounds are to the head. And a lot of the ones that fall outside of that percentage are because the guns are longer, right? So at this point, they're like, you know what, there are too many reasons why suicide doesn't seem likely. Yeah, I kind of agree as well. Theory number two is an accident.
00:36:30
Speaker
When he was asked what he believed may have happened to Charisse, Charisse's husband Eugene said he believed that it could possibly have been an accident. He said that since the overall Charisse was wearing actually were his, he knew that she wouldn't have been able to carry her gun and that that was something that she commonly carried
00:36:56
Speaker
on her person. She carried her gun in its little protective pouch. But he said, you know, these were my overalls. So I know that she wouldn't have been able to carry the gun in the side pockets because the side pockets at the hip had holes in them. So she would have had to carry the gun in the chest pocket of the overalls. I remember she's shot in the chest.
00:37:23
Speaker
But, okay, so even if we're saying, like, I don't know, the dog jumped on her and the gun. And that is one of the things that he suggested. I mean, he theorized that maybe one of the dogs jumped.
00:37:36
Speaker
But okay, obviously I'm not a skilled gunman. I've been shooting like three times and it scares me every time. So I pull the trigger like three times and I'm done. But the times that I have, it is not, maybe it's just me. Maybe I need to go to the gym, but it is not easy to pull a trigger.
00:37:57
Speaker
And that is actually, Maggie, an excellent point that we're going to talk about here in about two minutes. Okay. Yeah. Look at me. So I know he at this point is theorizing that when he says, you know, maybe one of the dogs jumped up on her and somehow, you know, claw, paw, whatever had hit
00:38:24
Speaker
the trigger and the gun had discharged, killing her. Besides, he recalled that not long before her death, the two of them had actually gone to a shooting range together to practice shooting. Because you see, initially, Eugene had a 25 caliber Sterling automatic, but he ended up purchasing an identical gun for Charisse.
00:38:51
Speaker
And even though he told police that he was the one who cared for and cleaned the guns all the time, because I guess he said, well, Charisse wasn't interested in that. I'm the one who cleans the guns all the time.
00:39:04
Speaker
Apparently, according to his memory, they would go shoot them together at the shooting range. So he said while they were at the range, her gun had actually jammed. And as a result, Charisse had told him that she planned to start carrying one bullet in the chamber. And he had told her at the time that was a bad idea because it's an accident waiting to happen.
00:39:32
Speaker
especially for someone who, according to Eugene, was already an accident-prone person like Charisse. So that was the explanation that Eugene gave as to why maybe it would have been easier for the gun to have discharged if it had one in the chamber. But it also kind of conveniently covers Eugene
00:40:00
Speaker
when Charisse's gun was tested and it actually didn't hold any usable prints. There were no usable prints that were on the gun that was found near her body. And I don't know if that's because it had been wiped down. If it's because guns are notoriously hard to get usable prints off of because the grips usually have some sort of pattern in it or design.
00:40:28
Speaker
in them, so it's harder to get a print off of that. But the gun did contain Eugene's DNA. Well, he says, well, of course it did. Right. Because he says, I'm the one who cleaned the guns all the time.
00:40:44
Speaker
I just don't know about this accidental firing. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk a little bit more about it then. So pause a little moment to explore the logistics of this accidental firing. It would seem to presume one of a handful of scenarios. First is that for some reason, for some reason,
00:41:11
Speaker
One of the dogs had turned and jumped, with the paw landing just right on the overall pocket to fire the gun. Well, the problem there would for me is I don't see her dogs jumping, period. I don't either.
00:41:27
Speaker
I do not either. Because like you just implied, I mean, these are heavily trained dogs. And besides that, now's where I'm going to bring up your point about where you said you'd have to go to the gym to fire a gun because of the pressure. Testing was actually done on Charisse's 25 caliber. And they found that the trigger required 10 pounds of pressure
00:41:55
Speaker
in order to fire, which is on the heavier end of the scale for how hard you have to pull the trigger. And while it's not unheard of for there to be an accident, like a dog jumping and causing again to go off, like we just said, it is highly unlikely for highly trained dogs to react in that way.
00:42:19
Speaker
Right. So one would think though, that if this scenario happened, at least in my mind, the gun wouldn't now be outside of her pocket. Yeah. Right. I guess it could have. But I still don't see that cause she landed on her chest. So I feel like it would be underneath her. Right.
00:42:43
Speaker
Another theory that Eugene proposed was that, you know, maybe Charisse had been walking the dogs and had slipped on some ice. And when she fell, the gun had discharged and that, you know, here it is in her front pocket. Right. And if she falls on her chest, it shoots. And that's what happened. Okay. But now why is it beside of her?
00:43:12
Speaker
exactly yeah so well he's thinking this is what he speculates remember the they were able to determine that she actually lived for roughly seven minutes after the shot
00:43:25
Speaker
So he's saying she got her phone out to try to call for help. And that when she pulled her phone out, everything else came out. And that's why it's all lying around her. Maybe she managed to get the phone turned on, but then wasn't able to make a call. A third possibility along the lines of this accidental theory is that maybe Charisse had, for some reason,
00:43:56
Speaker
pulled the gun out of her pocket. So maybe something or someone had scared her and she wanted to feel safer by having the weapon ready and in her hand and then obviously anything could have happened. Like
00:44:14
Speaker
Maybe she's holding the gun in her hand. Somehow the dog leash got tangled in it, right? And she's trying to get it loose. And as she's trying to get it loose, it somehow accidentally fires. OK, maybe. Now, you may be wondering, since I'm mentioning this theory of her having the gun ready,
00:44:40
Speaker
whether Charisse would be jumpy enough to have pulled out a gun in a public place. And I do not have an answer for that question because I don't know how she was, you know, normally on a day-to-day basis. What I will say is that Charisse's aunt Deborah told True Crime Daily that in the days leading up to her death, she had told her aunt
00:45:08
Speaker
that she believed someone was following her. Interesting. Someone driving a blue blazer and that Charisse was growing increasingly concerned.
00:45:23
Speaker
So, could Charisse have had something scare her and she drew the gun for protection right before, you know, maybe a tragic accident? Potentially. I almost think that idea of someone following her could also play into a theory of homicide though.
Homicide possibility and suspicion on Eugene
00:45:43
Speaker
Yes, and that is what I want us to talk about next because
00:45:48
Speaker
Theory three is homicide. Now with homicide, you know, obviously there are different paths that that could take. One is that it was a stranger committing the crime because she believed that she was being followed. But the stranger theory actually seems unlikely for one singular reason and that is the dogs.
00:46:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I was about to say. I don't think it could be somebody that she didn't know. It would have to be someone who the dogs would not attack if they got near her. I mean, she had to tell them, you know, like, hey, come to me, sit down when a cyclist passed by who wasn't even looking in her direction. So imagine if someone was trying to attack her. Yeah. Or even she had to say that stuff when her family would come to visit. Right.
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah, so it seems unlikely if not impossible for a complete stranger, especially if that stranger had something of a threatening posture to have gotten close enough to shoot her without the dogs attacking. So law enforcement actually checked local clinic and hospital records for the day of Charisse's death, as well as the days following, just to see if anyone had come in for treatment from a dog attack.
00:47:08
Speaker
Interesting. But no such records were located. So if this is a homicide, either the perpetrator didn't get treatment. You know, maybe they did something else to scare the dogs away momentarily. I don't know what that would be, but
00:47:29
Speaker
That also seems unlikely, especially if they're highly trained. Or the crime was committed by someone else the dogs knew and trusted intimately. Someone like Charisse's husband, Eugene. So I want to talk about him for a little bit. It turns out that the timeline that didn't even come close to being accurate
00:47:58
Speaker
wasn't the only weird thing that turned suspicions toward Eugene. They were initially upset, the family was, that Eugene didn't call and tell them about Charisse's death until the next day. So this could have already been on the news. And it was.
00:48:23
Speaker
So her family wondered, you know, why hadn't he been insistent on contacting us as soon as he found out the news himself? Yeah, because it would be horrible to find that out through a news station coverage. Yes. So Sharice's family, they also grew suspicious of Eugene when they noticed what they felt was odd behavior at Sharice's funeral.
00:48:49
Speaker
Her aunt Deborah recalls how overly talkative Eugene was, which they said was not in his character. And even the pastor of the church, who, even as he was saying this, admitted that he understands that everybody grieves in their own way. But he mentioned that it had alarmed him at the lack of emotion.
00:49:15
Speaker
that Eugene seemed to convey, that he was almost stoic. And Cherise's homegoing service was held on December 22nd, 2013, one day before what would have been her 52nd birthday. And I think that would make it even more emotional. Yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
So while the family, they initially treated Eugene as a mourner of the loss, just like they were. Charisse's brother Keith said that he even called Eugene every day at the beginning just to check on him. Law enforcement were beginning to piece together tips coming in that already had them questioning.
00:50:04
Speaker
Well, I'm interested to hear what you're going to say because, you know, it seems everybody really loved her, this caregiver and, you know, woman that really just loved life. So I would be interested to see what type of relationship they had. We're about to go on a roller coaster.
Revelations about Eugene's affair
00:50:21
Speaker
So one element that had police questioning was that the night of Sharice's death, a story aired on the news concerning a body that had been found on White River Trail that had been protected by two dogs.
00:50:44
Speaker
That news story led to two actions that we need to discuss. One of those is that someone called Animal Control shortly after the dogs were taken there to ask about them
00:51:00
Speaker
and to inquire about adopting them since the caller had just heard that their owner, Cherise, had been quote, killed by her husband. And this is the same night that her body was found? That was unclear in my research. I know that it, there was, they knew the dogs had been taken because of that news story. Okay. But I don't know if the phone call
00:51:28
Speaker
happened that same night the next day, but I know it happened early on. Okay. So this caller says, I wanted to check on these two German shepherds because their owner, Cherise, I heard was killed by her husband. Okay, so we're thinking potentially this is just a rumor. Right. Yeah. And I think that's probably what most people were thinking is, you know, this is just speculation.
00:51:55
Speaker
But the next tip that came also early in the investigation was a bombshell that seems to be the impetus behind any and all rumors that are in that rumor mill. An anonymous caller told police that Eugene was having an affair and not just that he was cheating,
00:52:24
Speaker
but that the affair had been going on for 14 years. Oh my. And since this information could be potential motive for Sharice's death, they began looking into the claim. They asked family now if there was trouble in Sharice and Eugene's marriage. And there was.
00:52:53
Speaker
Because of the length of this episode, after Maggie and I had recorded it in its entirety, we made the executive decision that we wanted to split it into two separate episodes because we don't want you to get bogged down with the length of it, that you miss out on key details that are in the second part, or you get busy and have to stop the episode and then
00:53:21
Speaker
don't return to it because it is an important case and we do want you to hear it in its entirety and share about it.
00:53:28
Speaker
What we have decided to do differently than other times is to not wait an entire week between this first part of the episode and part two. So while you are getting part one today on your normal day for the podcast to release an episode, we are going to release part two tomorrow. So make sure you tune in to get that information.
00:53:57
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Case's podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter at casescoffee, on Instagram at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:54:26
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.