48 Hours - Post Mortem | The Day My Mother Vanished

Episode Date: May 14, 2024

Go behind the scenes with Correspondent Peter Van Sant and Producer Judy Rybak as they discuss the decades long manhunt for William Greer, a man charged with killing his girlfriend Tammy Myers. Hear about what it was like interviewing U.S. Marshals and their clever name for their pursuit: Operation Catch A Toe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. I'm Anne-Marie Green, and welcome to Postmortem. This week, I'm joined by correspondent Peter Van Sant and producer Judy Ryback to discuss their latest episode, The Day My Mother Vanished. If you haven't listened to this episode yet, you know what you can do.

You can find it just below this one in your podcast feed. So this case was really unlike others this season because authorities didn't have to figure out who killed Tammy Myers. They had to find the person who admits to killing her. That person is William Greer. And it takes over a decade for authorities to find him, to track him down, and arrest him. That happens in 2017. When did 48 Hours learn about this case? This case came to us via Michelle Sagona, one of the development producers for this hour, who actually used to work on America's Most Wanted, and interviewed Nikki when she was eight years old, nine years old. So yeah, so all the

footage that we have in the show, Michelle was there for that. So she heard about Greer's arrest and the plea deal and brought it to us. Which made it a very personal story for us to work on. This is a case that infuriates, inspires. The people that we met along the way here, some of them are just remarkable characters. But how this case turned out is just shocking to me and to Judy. And we're still trying to deal with the aftermath of this because it's a very frustrating case. Well, let's start with Tammy's daughter, Nikki. She is such a pivotal character in this story. What was it like interviewing her?

Well, she is one of the heroes in this story. Such an inspiring young woman. Try to imagine, anyone listening to this, go back when you were seven years old. It's a few days before Christmas and your mother disappears, vanishes off the face of the earth. You never see or hear from her again. And they were so close. She actually read a little poem and she helped carry the show and inspire a nation to try to find the person responsible for taking her mother away from her. So interviewing her, you sense her enormous heart. She's a gentle soul. And you also sense the pain of all of these years, of all the things in her life she wasn't able to share with her mother because she was taken from them. And the hunt for justice to get attention for her mother, for the case.

I mean, she is really, really amazing. And, you know, I have to say, I attribute that to her mother and her father. Her mom must have been amazing because Nikki's so strong and her dad did such a good job of raising her alone. It's remarkable, really. What was so powerful for us was Nikki's dad, Ryan Myers. Now, folks, I'm going to do a little text in here for you because he is a classic cowboy, right? He's got the look right out of him, the old Marlboro cigarette ads or Clint Eastwood Western. He's got a way of talking that Texas cowboy talk. He starts talking about Tammy, the love of his life, and he starts blubbering. I'm sitting across from him and I'm almost tearing up. He loved her so

much and the tears that he sheds and throughout our hour, you see that it just breaks your heart. And that helps us get so invested in their stories because we so desperately want this to have a happy ending. Yeah, I just like, this guy doesn't deserve all of this. It's been such a tough road for him in so many ways. He's so sweet, too. So sweet. Okay, let's get to the case. Tammy goes missing on December 19th, 2006.

Tammy goes missing on December 19th, 2006. But on December 22nd, 2006, authorities find a highly intoxicated, half-naked man on the side of the road. Who was that and what was going on? Why did they end up out there? We laugh because, folks, try to just imagine this scenario. A couple of deputies with a rural sheriff's department, have a a call of a of a pickup truck that's gone off the road they get there there's no driver it's pitch black they're looking around they got their flashlights out and then by george here comes a guy out of the darkness wearing just a shirt uh no underwear pants anything and uh what a sight to see. And he comes up and they have a dash cam on them

and he says, I'm sorry, it was an accident. The gun just went off. And the officer's, what are you talking about? Tammy, my wife. And the gun went off and I accidentally shot her in the chest and I watched her die. Now, how are you taking all this in?

You're just out on patrol. Here's a guy half naked and he's saying something absolutely what? Yeah. And not just that, he tells them where it happened. I mean, he tells them everything they need to know. Yeah. Right. But I think what happened was because they were caught between two sheriff's offices, two jurisdictions, he fell through the cracks a little bit.

Yeah. Right. But I mean, to me, it was stunning that he was out the next day. I mean, I get it. There's two different jurisdictions. But even when I was watching the dash cam, you know, he's intoxicated. He's kind of in and out. It's not sort of a crystal clear statement.

But it's enough, you would think, to hold him just a little bit longer. Right. Well, remember, after he sobered up a bit and they were asking, you know, what did you say about what you did to her? Well, I didn't do that. And then he went quiet on them. Also, they sent a couple of deputies over to the house, the other county, to do a welfare check.

And they knocked on the door. Nobody answered. They couldn't see anything as they peered through the windows. Now, they didn on the door. Nobody answered. They couldn't see anything as they peered through the windows. Now, they didn't go in. I think if they had gone in, they would have seen blood. And this would have a very different ending to it. But the fact that they didn't, according to the officers, he was clearly intoxicated. You know, I think, is this guy just talking out of the side of his mouth?

Is he just, is this just the alcohol talking to us? It's their county, it's our county, and it just falls through the cracks. And no one goes back to the site where his truck was. No, they did. They would eventually go back and look for Tammy there. Yeah, they searched for Tammy's body there. And remember, in his truck, they find Tammy's cell phone. So, I mean, you have this link and eventually they get a search warrant and they go over and go inside that house. And who do they find, Judy, cleaning up in there? His brother-in-law. Now, I had a question about that as well, because, I mean, what did he think he was doing there? And even if he didn't suspect anything, once the cops show up, you would think he would have started to ask himself, well, why did he ask me to clean up his house? I mean, we don't really know, right?

They didn't tell us much about that. They didn't charge him with anything. He claimed he didn't know that a crime had occurred. So who knows? I mean, we'll never know how much the brother-in-law knew. This is clearly a crime scene, and it's a very odd part of this story that is full of oddities. Right. But like you point out, he was never charged with anything at all. But, you know, later, once authorities hear what Greer's sons say they heard, they decided they're going to charge him. They're going to charge William Greer with first-degree murder. The sons say that they hear him arguing to Tammy and he says, are you dead?

Are you still alive? Right. And authorities considered what they heard, including this quote, to be powerful evidence. Combined with a man who's confessing, half naked out in the dark, but confessing that he had shot Tammy and watched her die. Hello? I think we got ourselves a case here, right? Even if we don't have a body. There's no body, but there's everything but.

Right. I mean, you've got her blood in his house. You've got her phone in his car. Have him on dash cam saying that he shot her and watched her die. And then he flees, folks. What innocent guy flees and then he lies? I mean, it seems it's on a platter to me, right? Yes, yes.

I've seen a lot less in bodiless trials. Yeah. So as you guys say, William Greer, he's on the run. But thanks to shows like America's Most Wanted, Crime Watch Daily, authorities always seem to have a pulse on him. But he's still able to get away. I mean, people watch these shows, but he's still kind of popping up in different communities, making friends. Right.

And just kind of bopping along. How was he able to do that? That's true, right? He was still bopping along. People are watching across the country. You know, it's funny because we asked, like, was this a good thing or a bad thing? Because every time he saw himself on television, he would get up and take off, right? And the marshals said it's actually a good thing. They want him to keep moving because eventually he'll make a mistake and they'll catch him. Interesting. And he's not using cards because he's got a bunch of cash from his business, I guess, right? Probably, probably.

And, you know, women would do things for him, pay for things. And in New Orleans, when he worked at a deli, they paid him in cash. So there wasn't a paper trail. Right. And he rode a bicycle everywhere. And he was quite the charmer. Yep. Yeah. It's quite remarkable how agile he was in being able to just pick up and go and then ingratiate himself with someone else like that and just start another new life. And also think of the casualties that he left behind because these women, And also think of the casualties that he left behind because these women, many of them cared deeply. Some of them the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense.

A sister testifying against a brother. A lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about

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The U.S. Marshals were involved in this case and they were so invested in the case, even when one held on to the handcuffs that they used to arrest William Greer. It's a little trophy, I guess. What was it like interviewing them? For me, this was one of the great delights of our show. Folks, we love doing stories in Texas because everyone seems to be a character actor down there. And these U.S. Marshals are right off of a cowboy set. They are plain talking, straight talking. They are absolutely driven.

They have a saying they told us when he did the interview. Their saying is, justice is coming. It's just like something Clint Eastwood would say, right? I mean, that's the nature of these guys is that Texas tradition from the Wild West days, the marshal was the law of the county. Texas tradition from the Wild West days, the marshal was the law of the county. And these guys carry on that tradition with dedication and they have enormous heart. I mean, don't you think they're special? That's a good word for it. Yeah. I don't know. Have you ever done a story with the marshals before? Is this your first? Because it was my first and I was so impressed with them. I've done a marshal story in other states, but this is the first time in Texas. I was super impressed with them. And they're so helpful and warm and inviting and, you know, they couldn't do enough for us. And yeah, they're really special guys. And who else would come up with Operation Catch-A-Toe.

Leslie Raymond is such a character. The guy with the big cowboy hat on, such a character. But it was appropriate. He's missing a toe. It's a pretty distinctive feature. After a bike accident, William Greer loses his toe. What'd you make of the name? I loved it.

Yeah. And ultimately, they do catch not the toe, but else right because the toe is forever missing but they but they caught everything else they catch william greer he's started a new life and i guess true to what you guys said about him as he was on the run you know he's found another lady and he's heartbreakingly started another family. Can we talk about the fact that he had the nerve to name his new son William? I mean, it's just so stunning. The whole thing is so stunning. Yeah. So William Greer's sentence for killing Tammy Myers is just 10 years. And with time served, he'll be free in maybe three years, perhaps even sooner. Why on earth was his sentence so short?

Well, that's the sentence for second-degree manslaughter. I mean, they can't, they sort of have to go with the sentencing guidelines, right? So I don't think they had a choice. The minute he was sentenced, he was up for parole. They denied him. And in two years, he gets another bite at the apple. And then in three years, he's out regardless, no matter what. Right. Did you talk to the district attorney? I mean, is it clear why they allowed Greer to plead down to a lesser charge, second degree manslaughter instead of first degree murder? And the fact that they honored the plea, even though they never did find Tammy's body. They sent us this statement, which we actually put in the show. We believe Greer was acting in good faith and tried to lead law enforcement to her body. So much time has passed, and the terrain has changed,

but we believe he tried. We just have that one statement from them that, you know, it's a clear statement, but it doesn't feel right. Nikki and her family continued to search for her mother. Peter, you were present for a search of Tammy's remains, and you actually participated in the prayer circle that they had there. What was that like? It was deeply emotional. We all felt a tie to Nikki. We'd spent a lot of time with her. And she's such a big hearted person and has gone through so much pain. And when you see the volunteers out there, you could understand how Nikki shed some tears for the first time around us and also had all of this hope.

It was inspiring and it was heartbreaking. I was standing next to Peter during that prayer circle and I could tell that he was getting a little emotional. So I whipped out my iPhone and got a shot of him. I thought it was kind of a nice moment. It was powerful. And we hope against hope that this circle can be closed for Nikki, but it's going to be very difficult. And that was part of the emotion for us as journalists out there.

Let's hope when EquiSearch goes back out there, maybe they'll luck out. Maybe Nikki's dream will finally be realized. Wow. Well, of course, another great hour. Judy, Peter, thank you so much. This has been another fantastic, fascinating discussion. Thank you. Thanks, Sandra. Always a pleasure.

Join us next Tuesday for another Postmortem and watch 48 Hours on Saturdays, 10, 9 central on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. And if you are liking the show, please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen ad-free on the Amazon Music and Wondery app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-freefree with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts.

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