48 Hours - The Day My Mother Vanished

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

When her mother disappears seven-year-old Nicki Bates begins a lifelong search to find her and bring her killer to justice. Peter Van Sant reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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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. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. My mom's gone.

She's nowhere to be found. Where would she be? She's gone, and we need to find her. My name is Nikki Bates, and my mom is Tammy Myers. How old were you when your mother disappeared? I was only seven years old. It was just like a heavy weight, just a feeling like you couldn't breathe. She would have called, and she would have found a way to call.

You got three little kids, and they're missing their mom. And what do you say? I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I know it was one of the toughest things I ever did. I'm Ryan Myers and Tammy Myers was my wife. Even after we separated, we remained close. My mom was the love of his life. Tammy was loving and caring. Fun, easy going, electric.

Overall, great person to be around. Your mother meets a man who would soon play a major role in all of your lives. Who was that man? William Greer. My mom and my dad split up, and she gets with him. This man's rich, he has money. We got to do all these fun things, so immediately we just, like, were drawn to him. Until, you know, we realized that our mom wasn't happy. When they were together, he was very abusive.

As a little girl, you remember seeing your mother in pain. Yes. She was bleeding, she was bruised, she could barely walk. Did she ever report any of this to police? Not that I know of. What happened on December 19th, 2006, in Greer's home? There was an argument that had ensued. William Greer did not like the direction the conversation was going, retrieved his shotgun, and shot Tammy.

He's definitely among the worst of the worst. He's an evil murderer. My name is Cameron Welch. I'm Josh Wright. Leslie Raymond. I was one of the U.S. Marshals. One of the U.S. Marshals. One of the U.S. Marshals hunting William Greer.

They find blood all over the house. They find the bullet holes. Is William Greer still at the house? No, he has fled. Nowhere to be found. He's just gone. To Georgia. New Orleans.

Kentucky. America's Most Wanted. By this time, he's making the TV scene. We introduce you to William Greer. When he saw himself on TV, he just got up and left. To move on to the next place. Our beloved Tammy. America's Most Wanted, they were the first ones

to interview us. Did it give you some hope? It did. They had a few leads, but it died down. And we didn't have anything else for years. Where is she? Where's William at? You kind of went on a mission, didn't you?

I did. What was that mission? To not only find William, but to just keep my mom's name and her case alive. She'd be a great Deputy U.S. Marshal. You took the words out of my mouth. She's tenacious. We love that. The family wants somebody who's going to push hard to do what needs to be done. We will never stop.

Justice is coming. Peter Van Sant reports, The Day My Mother Vanished. You always hear that time heals, it'll get better, it'll get easier. That is not true. I think it's harder as an adult without a mom than it was as a kid. You have graduations that she misses. She missed my wedding. You have graduations that she misses. She missed my wedding. She has eight grandchildren that she will never meet. Nikki Myers-Bates lost her mother nearly two decades ago, when she was just seven years old. But she says no amount of time will heal this wound. This is my family.

Now a mother of three herself, Nikki is still searching for her mother and fighting to bring the man who killed her to justice. Pretty much when I became a teenager, I got my cell phone. You know, I read every article, every news video. I seen it, I read it. Ryan, even when you talk about her today, you get emotional about it. Why is that?

I still love her. You still love her? Ryan Myers says he and Tammy were just teenagers when they first fell in love. 20 when he asked her to marry him. The first year we were together, we had a kid. And then the following year, we had another kid. A few years later, we had Nikki. Nikki says there wasn't much money to go around, but there was always more than enough love, especially between mother and daughter. She was very loving. She was made to be a girl mom, even though she had two boys. She was very

girly, full of life, fun, energetic. Ryan worked long hours as a window installer, so Tammy could be a full-time mom. Then, fate dealt the Myers family a devastating blow. My dad was working on top of a three-story building. He got electrocuted and fell off and hit the concrete. I fell three floors, broke my back and legs. And unfortunately, the company I worked for didn't have insurance. How did you pay for all this?

Well, I mean, essentially Tammy had to work and try to pay some of the bills while I was down. And she had no experience, so she did what she thought was easiest and became a stripper. Am I allowed to say that? Are you sure you can say that? She became a female dancer. How did your dad take all of this? I don't think he loved it.

I think he wanted her to find another job, but she was like, it's fine. Nothing's happening here. I'm just getting the money. And so it was until Tammy met a big spender named William Greer. He was, as far as I know, a regular at the club. He threw a lot of money around. Where'd he get his money? He owned a vending machine company.

So her and my dad split up, and she gets with him. Sometime in 2006, Tammy moved about an hour away to Spring, Texas, in this house with Greer and two sons from his first marriage. Nikki and her brothers would spend the weekends there. Was he kind to you? As far as I remember, yes. Always giving us money, trying to take us on trips.

Did your mom stop working as a stripper? Yes. Did you sense that William Greer was good for your mother? When I first met him, yes. But things would turn ugly over time, says Nikki. Not long before her mother went missing, Nikki says there were clear signs of physical abuse, which Tammy documented in these photos. She stole his truck and came all the way to Cleveland from Spring. of physical abuse, which Tammy documented in these photos.

She stole his truck and came all the way to Cleveland from Spring, and she could barely get out of the car, and she was bleeding, she was bruised. Nikki says her mom tried to cover it up. She told us that it was a dirt bike accident, but she had told my stepmother that he had hit her with nunchucks. What's nunchuck? You see karate, the wooden things you swing around. He hit her with that? Yes.

Nikki says Greer came looking for his truck and her mother. My dad was like, you need to get off my property. And he was arguing, saying, well, she stole my truck. And my dad's like, I don't care. You need to get off my property. You know, my dad always said, I wish I would have just shot him because your mom would still be here. Nikki says she has since learned that her mother had been warned about Greer's propensity for violence by someone who knew him well, his ex-wife. She would tell my mom that, you know, you need to leave him. He's dangerous. Sadly,

it seems like Tammy may have been thinking about doing just that, but ran out of time. And is it true that the two of you were thinking about getting back together, talking about getting back together before she disappeared? Yes, sir. Then, as Christmas 2006 approached, Tammy mysteriously vanished. I had a missed call from her, and I tried to call her back, and I didn't get a response. I remember crying a lot. Just being devastated, not only for me, but seeing my dad that way was just devastating. Seeing my dad that way was just devastating.

And that's when this case took the first of many bizarre turns. Just eight days before Tammy was reported missing, Greer was arrested for public intoxication. Can you tell me your full name? William Joseph Greer. This is Greer on dash cam video. Come here with me. Confessing to two sheriff's deputies that he had shot Tammy. Were you aware that William Greer had been arrested by sheriff's deputies at that time?

No, sir. And in the next strange twist, Greer was released. I was still lost. Why wouldn't somebody sit there in the middle of something? Why you would just turn them loose so easily? 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. 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 the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights

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You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Back in 2006, Paul Lasko was a deputy for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office. In the early morning hours of December 22nd, Lasko and his partner got a call about suspicious activity on this road in Cleveland, Texas. There was a vehicle, a truck in the ditch here, and there was nobody around it. The truck was running, the lights were on, the door was open. The whole thing was captured on this dash cam video. Lasko says that at the time, there was a fenced-in field

bordered by a large, wooded area. My partner went down the driveway here. Next to the driveway was like a brush pile that was pulled up. That's where Lasko's partner found the missing driver, a highly intoxicated William Greer. William Joseph Greer. It appeared that he had been using some sort of drugs. That's what he acts like. He acts like he's on meth. He was also half naked. He had a button-up shirt on and no pants. No underwear. He was naked from the waist down.

Now, you've seen a lot of things. How strange was this? This was pretty strange. Where do you think your shoes or your boots are at? I hold them things. I got too muddy and bogged down because this is a swamp outfit. Greer's clothing was never recovered. But much more alarming than his physical state was what Greer freely said to two detectives. It was an accident, and I love it with all my heart.

He said that he accidentally shot Tammy in the chest, and that he watched her die. The gun just went off. I couldn't believe what happened. Oh, my God, it's the worst thing I ever did was let her he he watched her die the gun just went off i couldn't believe what happened oh my god it's the worst thing i ever did was when her eyes watched his eyes career told them the shooting had taken place at his home in spring about 40 miles southwest of cleveland a different county with a different sheriff. Back then, Sid Miller was a homicide detective in the Harris County Sheriff's Office. He would later learn that Harris County had been contacted by a Liberty County dispatcher and asked to send two deputies

to Greer's home for a welfare check. They peered through the window, looked inside the house, and they didn't see anything that was out of the ordinary in their opinion. Our dispatch notified us that Harris County went out there and everything looked fine. Lasko says they attempted to question Greer some more, but by then he had sobered up and stopped talking. You confessed to killing her.

Oh, I don't remember that, partner. Without probable cause that a murder had occurred, all Greer could be charged with was public intoxication. So Lasko and his partner took him to the Liberty County Jail, where he was booked, released on bond the next day, and disappeared. It's frustrating because we had him, and now he's gone. He had him, and now he's gone. Nikki says no one realized just how gone Greer was until days later,

when Greer's sons from his first marriage returned from Christmas vacation with their mother. And when their mom goes to drop them off, they start freaking out. We don't want to go home. The boys had been with their mother since the day Tammy Myers disappeared. Now, 11 days later, they were telling their mother that the morning she picked them up, they heard their father shoot Tammy Myers. Their mother took the boys straight down to the sheriff's office for an interview. That's when Detective Miller got involved.

They indicated that sometime in the morning of December the 19th, between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., they heard Greer and Tammy arguing. One of them described hearing what sounded like Tammy running down the hallway and being thrown against a wall. He also described hearing a gunshot, and he heard William Greer make the comment about, are you dead? Are you still alive? At this point, they obtain a search warrant, and they go into his house. When Detective Miller arrived at the house, he discovered Greer's brother-in-law. He was actually there cleaning out the house. He told the detectives he didn't know the house was a crime scene. And what was he cleaning up?

He was taking property out of the house. We learned that he had taken some guns out of there at the direction of Mr. Greer. Still, says Miller, the house was clearly a crime scene. There were so many bullet holes in his house throughout this house. I noticed that there was like blood smear on some of the walls. I walked into the bedroom.

You know, you had a mattress, soaked blood on the side of the mattress. There were bullet holes in the bedroom. And so what William Greer had actually told those Liberty County deputies turned out to be true. It turned, yes. Are you good?

One more thing you should know about that night, deputies found Tammy's cell phone on the front seat of Greer's truck. They used it to call Tammy's mother, who Nikki says told deputies that Greer had been physically abusing her daughter. The older I get, the more angry I get. They really failed not only her, but just everyone in the situation. Nikki says it still infuriates her that on the night Greer confessed, a search warrant would have made all the difference. Why didn't they seek a search warrant to get into the house

that evening? I think at that particular time, based on what Greer had told Liberty County, because of his intoxicated state, they couldn't verify substantially whether that was credible information. Miller says that night, there just wasn't enough probable cause for a search warrant. And even after searching Greer's home, they still couldn't find Tammy. We actually did a search of the house, and we had the cadaver dogs go out and do a search of the property, and we didn't find Tammy. We actually did a search of the house and we had the cadaver dogs go out and do a search of the property and we didn't find anything. Detective Miller says

they also searched the woods where Greer had been arrested. Still, even without Tammy's body, the Harris County District Attorney's Office felt they had enough to charge Greer with first-degree murder. And on March 16, 2007, nearly three months after Greer's drunken confession,

a grand jury voted to indict him. There was just one problem, says former Deputy U.S. Marshal Leslie Raymond. He was in the wind. By the time they figured out a murder had occurred, William Greer was gone. One family, two deaths. A haunting crime scene with a tangle of provocative evidence. 48 Hours.

Peter Van Sant hosts a true crime limited series podcast. Blood is Thicker. The Hargan Family Killings. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now. Our beloved Tammy. A daughter taken, life shaken. Nikki Bates was just nine years old when she and her brothers shared memories of their mother with the television show America's Most Wanted.

If you mind, can we spend time together? Nicky hoped that viewers might recognize the man who had allegedly killed her mother and then disappeared, William Greer. Did it give you some hope? It did. Once we got him on America's Most Wanted, we started getting tips. Detective Miller says that after the first mention of Greer on the show, he and his partner were finally beginning to learn

about the fugitive's first few days on the run. The day after Greer got out of jail, he went to his sister's house and basically said that he had done something bad and he wanted to change his life and he was leaving town so the sister had given him some money for that purpose from there greer had gone to savannah georgia to see his half-brother daniel dobson so detective miller and his partner did the same he said that he hit her with the gun and it went off. This is a recording of Dobson being questioned. He said she died in his arms and he freaked out, went out and buried her. And buried her to where nobody would find her. That's the phrase he used, where nobody would

find her. When he finally admitted what he did, I did everything I could to get him off this property that day. He had taken Greer to a truck stop and just dropped him off there and he hadn't seen him since. In July 2007, Greer had been on the run for six months when he got a job as a cook at This Deli in New Orleans, working alongside this man, John Morales. He told me that his name was Billy. When I tried to ask him what his last name was, he wouldn't tell me what his last name was. Morales says he told me that his name was Billy. When I tried to ask him what his last name was, he wouldn't tell me what his last name was. Morales says he and the man he knew as Billy got along so well, they decided to room together.

And Billy began to open up about his past. Billy told me that he had kids. He told me that he had an ex-wife and that his ex-wife wasn't allowing him to see the kids and that's why he was traveling. Morales-wife wasn't allowing him to see the kids and that's why he was traveling. Morales says it wasn't long before his new roommate began to drink heavily and became progressively stranger. He would start crying and say that he didn't want to wind up in hell. Even more disturbing, says Morales, were Greer's plans for the future. He would say that he wanted to live off-grid,

that he wanted to find another wife, you know, at some point, and have more kids. Then he would take the downward spiral again and say, if I ever find out she's cheating on me, I'll kill her. Then, says Morales, Greer began using drugs. The men parted ways and Morales moved to Florida. Weeks later, a friend from the deli called to say that the man they knew as Billy had just been featured on America's Most Wanted.

Morales was one of five tipsters who called police. But by the time detectives arrived to investigate, Greer was gone. This is definitely the hat that was in that photo. Left behind was his signature cowboy hat, a possible taunt aimed at his pursuers. It would take two more months before there was another credible tip, this time from Georgetown, Kentucky, where Greer had found God. He just came into a service one Sunday morning. Connie Jackson Osborne,

pastor of the Victory Tabernacle Church, says she knew Greer as Billy Leslie. He said he was new to the area and was looking for handyman work. He offered to help around the church. He seemed very nice, very personable. He got right in with different ones in the congregation, participated. Billy even asked to be baptized, but when he learned that his photograph would be taken for posterity, Pastor Connie says he nearly backed out.

But Greer changed his mind and allowed this photo to be taken of his baptism on August 26, 2007. One month later, a member of the congregation would see the now-baptized Billy on America's Most Wanted. And if I may quote one little passage from the Bible to you as a pastor, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Yes, he does. And it was funny when I found out he was wanted because he was living right across the street from the police station. Hiding in plain sight. But by the time investigators arrived, Greer had taken off again. He left in a hurry. His CD player is still turning. This guy literally thought that he could victimize not only Tammy, but everybody else that he

encountered while he was on the run and kind of just thumbing his nose in our face. More than three years had gone by with no credible leads when Cameron Welch, a deputy marshal with the Southern District of Texas U.S. Marshal Service, joined the case. Welch followed up old leads, hoping for new information. Which one is Greer's house? Doug deeper into Greer's past and found yet another ex-wife, who told detectives that Greer had abused her as well. He was able to convince these women that he was just a great guy

and he would use them for everything that he needed and then he would move on to the next one. Welch spent two years chasing down new leads, but Greer was nowhere to be found. So where do you go from there? Back to square one. Just keeping the pressure. In 2012, Welch was assigned to another case.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Raymond took over the now five-year-long hunt for Greer and named it Operation Catch-A-Toe. And why'd you name it that? William Greer was missing a toe. And how'd he lose that? I think it was a bicycling accident when he was younger. This is the famous missing toe. It's the famous missing toe.

Wow. The marshals believed that unique feature would eventually tip people off to Greer's true identity. If you have a murderer in your house, and this murderer's missing a toe, they're going to easily put two and two together. And this murder is missing a toe. They're going to easily put two and two together. Do you think Greer's missing toe will help the U.S. Marshals get their man? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. 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 reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. In late 2012, when Deputy US Marshal Leslie Raymond took over the hunt for William Greer, he studied the case and investigated new leads with no luck. This is the best information.

Then, in 2016, Raymond and his now associate investigator, Deputy Josh Wright, returned to the last place Greer had been seen. I just wanted to show you some pictures. This time, the TV show Crime Watch Daily was helping keep the heat on the fugitive. We spent some time in Kentucky traveling, interviewing people, following up on leads. I pretty much was sure that he was using the railways to move around, hopping trains. And the last good solid source put him on a train going southbound, and I said, this guy's in Mexico. Raymond asked to have the outlaw placed on the

U.S. Marshal's 15 Most Wanted list, which alerts law enforcement agencies worldwide to be on the lookout for Greer. A $25,000 reward was also offered for his arrest. And money helps loosen lips. And it wasn't long before that reward and Raymond's instincts appeared to be paying off. We obtained information from a reliable source that William Greer had set up a new life south of the border in Mexico. The deputies would not tell us who that reliable source was,

but someone in Mexico had called in a tip telling investigators that they knew where Greer was hiding out. We'd investigated hundreds of tips over the course of this fugitive investigation, and so we knew that it had to be verified. But U.S. Marshals don't have jurisdiction in Mexico, so Operation Cacheto was now in the hands of Mexican authorities,

who checked out the tip. While the Marshal's office was kept informed at every turn, Mexican police were now surveilling the man they all hoped was William Greer. I can tell you I did not sleep. Joss and I were anxiously awaiting to find out what the results were. The next morning, they got the confirmation they hoped for.

The man spotted in Mexico was indeed William Greer. Now he had to be captured. Mexican authorities learned that Greer was living practically off the grid, down this dirt road in the tiny southern town of Taxco. He had a wife and two young children. People tell me he was very reserved. He was very nice, very polite, hardworking guy, but very reserved. Paulina Gomez, a producer based in Mexico City,

recently traveled to Taxco for 48 hours and learned that Greer had most likely been in Mexico for about six to seven years. He met his new wife while living in the Mexican state of Chiapas. By the time they moved to Taxco, they had an infant daughter and toddler son named William. He's the biological father? Yes, of these two kids. He's the biological father? Yes, of these two kids. By 2017, locals say Greer had been living in Taxco for about three years.

We called him El Gringo. You didn't know his name? No. Tilo Perez lived next door to the fugitive and says he was a good neighbor. He was calm. He didn't mess with anyone. We had learned that he had a carpentry company. He was building furniture, and he employed a couple employees. Greer had been a master of avoiding arrest,

but on the morning of November 28, 2017, his days on the run finally came to an end, when Greer was taken by surprise by a swarm of undercover police. The U.S. Marshal Service would like to announce the arrest of William Joseph Greer. He completely denied that it was him. I just wish I could have been there to see his face when they removed his shoe. They did remove the shoe? Absolutely.

And what did they see? A missing toe. Operation Catch-a-Toe. Correct. Had finally succeeded. That's right. It was a good feeling. And I wasn't crying, he was crying.

We might have teared up a little bit. I might have teared up. Nikki was 18 years old when she got the news that her mother's killer had finally been captured. I just cried. I just remember crying because it was not expected. It was just an overwhelming feeling. not expected. It was just an overwhelming feeling. Greer was promptly flown to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where he was arrested on U.S. soil.

These were the handcuffs used on William Greer. And how satisfying was that? Extremely satisfying. Leslie Raymond says Greer actually recognized him from all the TV coverage. He saw me and said, hey, I know who you are. I'm your biggest fan. He was exactly how I imagined he'd be. Very arrogant, very eager to tell us how he eluded us.

And that's really what we were interested in as fugitive investigators. We wanted to know how. How did he get away for so long? And how did he get to Mexico? The deputy marshals say they always suspected that Greer had been getting around on 18 wheelers and trains. Greer confirmed that he did end up taking a train from Kentucky, and he headed west until he found another train heading south. And that's how he ended up crossing into Mexico.

Raymond and Wright delivered Greer to the sheriff's office, where Sid Miller, now a sergeant investigator, attempted to interrogate him. You know, that's really why you're here. attempted to interrogate him. Miller tried to push Greer to tell him where he had buried Tammy. Greer suggested that he would cooperate. But instead, he asked for an attorney and shut down the interview. Now, whether you guys are willing to work with me or not, that's yet to be seen.

But I'm here to work with you guys. But I need to talk to you about this. With Greer behind bars, it was now up to the Harris County District Attorney's Office to try the case. I was like, okay, we're finally going to have some closure. But what ended up happening stunned just about everyone. You were disappointed, weren't you? Greatly disappointed. To be continued... and get in on the case. Listen to Postmortem from 48 Hours, now available wherever you get your podcasts. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty?

Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney,

I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now.

It was now 2023, nearly six years since William Greer had been captured. And now the 58-year-old was still sitting in this jail awaiting trial. COVID and the legal process had slowed the proceedings to a crawl. Painful, says Nikki, who longed for justice and finally locating her mother's missing remains. Recently around the trial date, I would have dreams that I was digging and I would just find her in the most random places. Sid Miller was prepared to testify at trial. What's the strongest evidence you have against... Two children hearing what they heard. Both of Greer's sons, who believe they heard their father shoot and kill Tammy Myers,

were on the witness list. And while Greer's brother was now deceased, the prosecution had that recording of what he told detectives back in 2007. He said that he hit her with a gun and it went off. And then, of course, there was Greer's dash cam confession. Oh, my God, it's the worst thing I ever did was let her in her eyes and watch me die. Coupled with, obviously, the evidence that we found at the house, the blood, the bullets, seems like a strong case to me. But Nikki says the prosecution was nervous,

worried that they were missing a critical piece of evidence, Tammy's body. Only days before trial, Nikki says she and her family were contacted by Assistant D.A. Stephanie Abner about a potential plea deal to avoid a trial. She said, would y'all consider manslaughter if he tells you where she's at? And I said, you know what?

Yes, we will. We just want to know where our mom's at. We want a resting place where we can go to, where our children can go to. So we took the deal because they also made it seem like there was not another choice, that he would probably walk free if we went to trial. As a condition of the deal, Greer was now required to show detectives where he had buried Tammy's body. I had to check them out of the jail. I had our warrant team with us because he was such a flight risk. Nikki says when she heard where they all ended up, she was crushed.

They were searching for her mother not far from where Greer first confessed to killing her and way too close to the home Nikki grew up in. He walked up and down the road in cuffs right next to my dad's house. That went on for three days, says Sid Miller. Nothing was found. Investigators then called off the search. Greer still got his deal. We were told he will get his deal only if he tells us where he buried her. I think it's bullcrap, and I think that he just, once again, is getting off for murdering her. The district attorney's office declined our request for an interview, but gave us this statement.

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. On January 22, 2024, Greer appeared in court for sentencing. It had been 17 years since Nikki laid eyes on him. You know, everyone kept telling me, he's not going to even look at you. He'll be ashamed. And he walked into court and he stared right at us. You staring back? Yes. Did you make eye contact with him? I was just trying to let him know, like, we are not giving up. We're not backing down. We are not scared of him.

She trusted you. We trusted you. Frustrated and angry, Nikki gave a victim impact statement on behalf of her family. We had to look at the man who murdered our mom over on our neighborhood, trying to remember where he put her body. How do you not remember? How was I not eating at you every day since? I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe him to talk back. I don't know. But I stopped and I said, do you? Do you remember? And he just stared at me. You say you're

a changed man, that you're a Christian. And if that's the case, you'll continue to talk and help us try to find her. You want forgiveness? That's what I need. I need to know and I need to find her. Greer's sentence for killing Tammy Myers and fleeing is 10 years. Do you have anything to say, sir, as to why sentence should not now be pronounced against you? No. With time served, he will be free in three years, perhaps even sooner. 10 years for taking someone's life away and then just disposing of them like garbage, that's not enough. If you ask me, he should be in jail forever.

Leslie Raymond, now retired, says Greer better behave. If he does anything, I'll come back out of retirement. I'll find him again. Are you worried that, and it could be as we are speaking now in as little as three years, there may be more victims? I'm concerned about that. Are you as well, Cameron? Yes, sir.

Meanwhile, the search for Tammy continues without law enforcement. Good morning, and thank you for being here. Texas EquiSearch is a non-profit volunteer search and recovery organization that offers their services to law enforcement and families for free. So everyone, this is Nikki here. This is Tammy's daughter. Hi. Hi. Can you have all the volunteers out here? I don't know any of them. And they have kept me updated and just, you know, made me feel so loved.

They prayed over us. and just, you know, made me feel so loved. We asked you to pray for the family. I know they're looking for closure. They prayed over us. They have committed to helping a daughter on a mission. But being out here so close to home and just possibly close to finding her is a little overwhelming. It won't be easy, says canine handler Brenda Peek. How large an area are you searching today?

Total about four acres. She says even highly trained dogs will have trouble detecting the scent of bones buried nearly two decades ago. A lot of people won't take this task because it is, it's a difficult one. It's challenging. Okay, so these are the search areas. It's a difficult one. It's challenging. Okay, so these are the search areas. On this day in February 2024,

there were three cadaver dogs with handlers. Watch the barbed wire. And more than 30 volunteers covering the four acres. And a spot that Nikki and her dad requested to be searched. Can I show you something? I think right here, my dad works with the owners. It goes all the way back here. It takes a lot to not let it consume me.

I try to focus on my kids and my husband, but they will tell you I'm very determined. If I just have free time at home, I'm on my computer looking at maps, looking at old areas, what they looked like then, what they look like now. That opening to that left, it could be it. After searching for about five hours, the team called it quits for the day.

But there was a glimmer of hope. All three canines had reacted to something in the same area. They think that it's possible that he drove into this area and that maybe he buried her somewhere over here since all three dogs have picked up on this area. But Texas EquiSearch didn't have the right tools to dig properly, so they committed to trying again. Until then, Nikki will be out searching on her own. Do you believe she will one day be found?

I'm not sure. I am trying to stay hopeful, but between weather and animals and if he's telling the truth or not, that it's, you know, it could be hard. I'm hoping we can put this to rest and give Tammy a place, get these kids some closure in their life, somewhere they can pay their respects. My kids are young, but they are fully aware of what's happening.

They just want so badly for her to be found. I'm just trying to stay hopeful for myself, but also for my children, and just keep looking, because I don't want to give up. Immediately after being sentenced, Greer became eligible for parole. It was denied. His next parole review is in 2026. 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.