Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - CHEERLEADER, 15, KIDNAPPED, MURDERED FROM SCHOOL BUS: WHO KILLED LARALEE

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Laralee Spear, 15, in her freshman year at DeLand High School, is over the moon after learning she has made the Junior Varsity cheer squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy--piano lessons, church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keyettes, a school service organization. Spear’s daily routine is to walk home from her bus stop on the corner of Deerfoot Rd and South Spring Garden. The ½ mile walk usually takes about 10 minutes. Laralee always meets her mother at home by 3:30 p.m., even if she stops to watch the neighbor’s horses. When Laralee is half an hour late, Barbara Spear calls 911 in a panic, reporting her daughter missing. Just 16 minutes after Barbara Spear was reported missing, Volusia County Sheriff investigators are on the ground searching for the teen. Air One, the Sheriff’s helicopter, is already in the air, and scanning the neighborhood for Laralee. At 5:35 p.m., the pilot spots a body, behind an abandoned home. A quarter mile from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laralee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the burned-out home, shot to death. Laralee Spear is found lying in a pool of her blood, shot in the back of the head three times. Spear’s hands had been tied together and much of her clothing was missing or torn away. Spear has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she was beaten. It appears Spear’s attacker attempted to assault her sexually, and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants of Spear’s clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in the days after her death. Detectives believe Laralee only made it about 200 yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted. They estimate Laralee was dead within 25 minutes of getting off the bus.  Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department join Volusia County Sheriffs to canvass Spear’s neighborhood for a week. Over 1,000 tips are collected in the month following Laralee’s murder, and police learn a group of people were hanging out and shooting guns at the burned-down home where the body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark-colored truck near the crime scene. Who killed Laralee?  Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Virginia Bussell - Laralee’s sister Sheriff Mike Chitwood - Volusia County Sheriff; X: @VolusiaSheriff  Detective Cordell Lemay - Major case/homicide Volusia County Sheriff’s Office,  Sheryl McCollum - Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, Host of "Zone 7;" X: @149zone7 Alexis Tereszcuk –(CA) CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories; X: @swimmie2009 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young cheerleader, just 15 years old, kidnapped, then murdered straight off the school bus in broad daylight. Who killed Laura Lee? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The tragic slaying of a young 15-year-old girl haunts a small Florida town, kidnapped from her school bus and shot dead. Who killed Laura Lee Spear? This rural area, Deerfoot Road, had been insulated from crime and fear since its inception for decades until this beautiful young girl. And I've got to tell you, this girl was everybody's dream.

She sang in the church choir. She was with the keynotes, beautiful voice, straight A's, cheerleader, you name it. This girl was it, the it girl. So how is it that she steps off her bus, her school bus, a public school bus with all the other children and within minutes she's gone. First of all take a listen to this. What are you going to say in the beginning of the bus? I don't know, we'll just start to make up something. what's your birthday june 21st 1978. 911 what's the emergency yes i need the sheriff's department please what's the problem ma'am my daughter got off the bus the child riding next to his daughter got off the bus. The child riding next to her saw her get off the bus.

My neighbor saw her get off the bus and start down the road. It's seven-tenths of a mile to our home. She is always, like clockwork, at home at 3.30. My child is not at home yet. Okay, how old is she? She is 15 years old. You can hear mom's voice starting to crack there at the end. She calls 911 to report her child missing, her little girl missing, within the hour,

within the hour of her stepping off that bus, doing everything right. How can nobody see anything? Nobody hears, nobody knows, nobody tells anything about the disappearance and the murder of Laura Lee. Let's listen to more of that 911 call. How long has she been missing? Since, gosh, a little after 3 this afternoon. I would say approximately between 310 and 315. That's at the middle of the last they saw. Okay, where's her bus stop?

Her bus stop is at Wingarden Road and Deerfoot Road. We live on Deerfoot Road. You're hearing mom staying calm, cool, and collected as she gives the information to 911. But I can hear her voice cracking with me at All-Star Panel to make sense of what we know right now. I always like to start with a 911 call, as I do when prosecuting a case, because it's unlike anything else. It's not a witness telling a jury what happened through their own vision, through their own glasses. It's what did happen in the moment.

And we learn so much. Again, with me, an all-star panel, but first two special guests, Virginia, Jenny Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister. Jenny, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Can you remember the day that Laura Lee went missing? Definitely. It's hard to forget.

Well, I remember getting off the school at at the um footprints in the in the on our dirt road just to see it's kind of it was a game that I would use to play where I would try to figure out Larley's outfit because she would always walk right before I would because I was in middle and she was in high school and I saw that there was multiple sets of footprints. And so I figured that my mom walked up to the bus stop to come get her, which was not uncommon. And as I made my way down, I encountered one of my neighbors that told me that I really need, my mom had been looking for me and she didn't know where I was, which I thought was odd because it was my normal time. And so I hurried home to find her on the phone with the sheriff's department. And she was in hysterics at that point. And she was asking me

to check the house, go upstairs to check her room, to see if she was there. And maybe she had missed her. Like she may have taken a nap or something. She just didn't hear her come in. So I went and I looked and I couldn't find her. And I relayed the information to my mom. And shortly thereafter, we had a deputy come to the house to assist. Then, I want to say a few hours later, maybe, time kind of stood still. We had a chaplain come to the house.

I didn't know at the time why, but when he relayed the information to my parents, that had to be the hardest thing to watch. At first I thought, oh she's hurt, thought, oh, she's hurt. She's somewhere, she's at the hospital, we'll go and get her. I think I was in shock. But then realizing that she wasn't gonna come home, that's what hit hard. When, Jenny, did you discover that she had been killed?

At that time when the chaplain came and my mom was in hysterics when he told her the news. When you say hysterics, what do you mean? She was crying and yelling out, my baby, they killed my baby. Guys, with me is Jeannie Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister recounting the moment a chaplain showed up at their home to tell them Laura Lee wasn't just missing. She was dead and someone had killed her. In addition to Virginia, Jeannie Vassell is Sheriff Mike Chitwood from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and Detective Cordell LeMay. Gentlemen, thank you for being with us along with Cheryl McCollum and Alexis

Tereschuk. To Sheriff Chitwood, I want to thank you gentlemen so much for being with us. Sheriff, I've seen that over and over and it happened to me as well when I became a victim of violent crime. The families try to think of any alternative other than she's dead and someone killed her. Like we just heard Jeannie stating, oh, well, she's at the hospital. We can go get her. Are we going to fix it? Or she's going to be OK. And then that moment when they're told, for instance, in this case, this child is never coming home and that someone killed her.

Yeah, I think Ginny hit it right on the head when she said that she was in shock and it doesn't sink in the finality of what has occurred. And I think most crime victims, you know, they leave the room of their loved one intact the way it was the last time they saw them forever. Because that losing a loved one and having that piece of you cut out, there's no way that's ever going to get put back there. It's never going to come back. And you kind of disassociate yourself from the reality of it because you don't want to believe that this actually happened. To understand a kidnap murder, to begin to even try to solve it, you have to understand who is your victim. Listen. Laura Lee Spear, 15, in her freshman year at Deland High School,

is over the moon to learn she's made Junior Varsity Cheer Squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy. Piano lessons, church choir practice, and volunteering with the Kietz, a school service organization. David and Barbara Spear are immensely proud of their model student. And Laura Lee's punctuality and stellar grades make her a great role model for her younger sister, Jenny. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Straight out to another special guest joining us, Detective Cordell LeMay, major case homicide detective in Volusia County Sheriff's Office. Detective, thank you for being with us. I also think, Detective, that the stark, the harsh dichotomy, the trying to get your mind around the fact that you just saw your daughter a couple of hours ago when she left to go to school and everything was fine. I've heard that phrase a hundred times from crime victims' families. Everything was fine. And then suddenly they learn not only is the little girl dead, kidnapped off the school bus after she takes a few steps from the school bus, but that someone killed her.

It wasn't a car accident. It wasn't some other type of mishap. Someone actually targeted a little teen cheerleader getting off the school bus and murdered her. Yeah. Just to look at the facts of the case like that, it's horrible, obscene even. And it's a terrible situation. You have Laura Lee Spear here, a 15-year-old girl, like you said, a model student, a model daughter. And she's a true victim. Didn't have a bad bone in her body. Just minding her own business, going about her life, getting off the school bus. From what I understand, she wanted to be a doctor,

I think a veterinarian when she grew up. And all that was taken away from her. She never got that chance. All that was taken away from her family by some, you know, awful person out there that probably got most likely free, you know. And knowing the entire time that he and I guarantee you, of course, I'm not an eyewitness, but it is a he knowing he has literally gotten away with a murder. Well, not if we have anything to do it. Let's go back to the moment that mom realizes Laura Lee is not coming home. She hasn't made it home off that school bus. And she was very, very punctual. We hear that throughout. She doesn't go meander around the neighborhood. She doesn't go to a friend's house without telling mom.

Nothing like that. No trips to the mall after school. She walked straight home. That's how mom knew in her core that something was horribly wrong. Listen. Anybody see her start walking home? Yes. My neighbor saw it start down the road. Start walking towards the house? Yes. Has she stopped at any neighbor's house or anything? Have you checked with the neighbors? No, I've called all the neighbors. They all say that, well, maybe that the next property did not see her at their house.

Okay, hold on one second, okay? Okay. So she got off about 3, 315? She got off the bus from approximately 310 to 315. Okay, hold on a second. Joining me, in addition to Laura Lee's sister, Jenny Bissell, Detective LeMay, and Sheriff Chitwood, Cheryl McCollum is joining us, forensics expert, the founder of the Cold Case Research Institute, and star of a hit podcast, Zone 7.

Cheryl, thank you for being with us. You and I have seen a lot of missing person cases. We've seen a lot of homicide cases. As a matter of fact, the last seven to eight years in the District Attorney's Office, I handled strictly and exclusively murder, serial murder, serial rape, serial child molestation, and any type of arson. So we have certainly seen a lot of cases. But a child getting kidnapped and murdered straight off the school bus. And of course, everybody looks at the school bus driver.

It wasn't the school bus driver. The driver just kept going with the children, was still driving the bus by the time that Laura Lee's body was found. Cheryl, here is a stark and jarring statistic that I learned from Mark Klass, Victims' Rights Champion. Over, well over 30% of child stranger to stranger abductions occur on a school route. Going to school, walking to school, walking to the bus, coming back home, getting off the bus, drop off, pickup that right there. And that should shake the shoulders of everybody in Congress. If they could look up for their money-making ventures and realize that that's

where money needs to go in policing school bus routes, school bus stops, school buses. But that's a whole nother can of worms. Let me get back to something that I can actually affect. And that is finding Laura Lee's killer. Jump in. Nancy, from where the bus dropped her off, the walk to her home, when I walked the scene and drove it with Detective LeMay, what leaked out at me is from where she was dropped off to the crime scene, she literally had to pass her house.

This person in broad daylight knew a remote location of a house that had been burned down a year before past Laura Lee's home to drive her to that location. So to me, that tells me this killer was familiar with that area. Spears' daily routine is to walk home from her bus stop on the corner of Deerfoot Road and South Spring Garden. The one-half-mile walk usually takes about 10 minutes. Laura Lee always meets her mother at home by 3.30, even if she stops to watch the neighbor's horses. When Laura Lee is a half an hour late, Barbara Speer calls 911 in a panic,

reporting her daughter missing. Laura Lee Speer, only 15 years old, abducted, shot just yards away from her home. Her body found in a burned down, abandoned house. I've been listening very carefully to all the 911 calls, and I want you to hear something that is integral, and every parent should know this. Listen. Should I go back out Lee is wearing. She can describe the backpack. I can describe my children's shoes, their socks, what they're wearing, the works exactly every day. I know what my children wore today in summer break. Did you hear the mom? She is that attentive to her child that she knows exactly what Laura Lee's, even her backpack looks like. Joining me in all-star panel, but I want to go back to Laura Lee's sister, Virginia Jenny Bissell, and speaking to Jenny, as I have

discovered with so many other crime victims of violent crime, it never goes away. It's always just beneath the surface, and anything, much less somebody asking you a direct question about it, anything can trigger it. It never goes away. Would you agree with that, Jenny? That's absolutely correct. 100%. How has it affected your life? What makes you remember? Like in the middle of a day, you'll be having a perfectly fine day and all of a sudden somebody brings it up or something reminds you. What triggers that?

Laura Lee's the memory of Laura Lee's disappearance and murder. Anything can really trigger a memory. Like just going about my day or even like talking to my parents, um, it's, it, it can be anything to be quite honest. Like even hearing a song from back in the day, it's, it can be, um, a multitude of things, even driving around town because I, I still live in Deland and stay close to my parents. So, um, just even driving to the house because they still live in the same house. So taking that road every day just reminds me.

I understand your parents, particularly your mom, has never, quote, gotten over Laura Lee's murder. Right. Yeah. It's, it's significantly impacted her all of our lives, really. Um, but definitely for her, um, she feels the guilt. I think it's survivor's guilt for us. Um, because for me just walking down, knowing that I took the same steps as she did that same day and thinking, why her? It should have been me. You know, I wish it was me.

You know, I mean, those thoughts happen a lot. One thing I know is that the moment that 911 call was made, Ellie, law enforcement, jumped into action. Listen. Just 16 minutes after Barbara Speer reports 15-year-old Laura Lee missing, Volusia County sheriffs are on the ground searching for the teen. Air one, the sheriff's helicopter is already in the air and begins scanning the neighborhood for Laura Lee. At 5.35 p.m., the pilot spots a body lying behind an abandoned home. A quarter mile from the Speer home, officers on the ground find Laura Lee Spear, lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the burned out home, shot to death.

And shot multiple times. This girl, this teen cheerleader, an honor student, shot multiple times. Her body only spotted by helicopter flying over. It was so far back in a burned out home that only a local would have known about. In addition to our all-star panel, including Larlie's sister, Jenny, Alexis Terescheck is joining us, investigative reporter, crimeonline.com. Alexis, thank you for being with us. For those is joining us, investigative reporter, CrimeOnline.com. Alexis, thank you for being with us. For those just joining us, give me a recap about how Laura Lee went missing that afternoon. So Laura Lee, 15 years old, freshman in high school, gets off her school bus. She lives kind

of on a rural road. This is Florida, in Deland, Florida. It's a little bit east and a little bit south of Daytona Beach. Very leafy. This isn't right on the water. And she normally walks home less than a mile, 0.7 tenths of a mile. Takes her about 10 minutes. She walks every single day. She comes home from the school on the school bus. She does not arrive at home. She gets off the bus between 3 and 3.15 p.m. She is always home by 3.30. The neighbors in between the school bus and her house, they have horses. She loves to stop there and look at the horses and then we'll make her way home.

So she does not arrive at home and her mom panics. She starts calling around. She calls her friend. The friend says, nope, I saw her get off the bus. She calls the neighbor, the next door neighbor. There's one house between them. The neighbor says, no, I saw her get off the bus. She calls the neighbor, the next door neighbor. There's one house between them. The neighbor says, no, she is not here. And then the mom calls the police immediately, like right away.

Doesn't wait two hours. Doesn't think, well, maybe she stayed at school or a friend picked her up or anything because she, this girl is so punctual. She's a straight A student. She just made the JV cheerleading squad. She volunteers at school. She never, you know, she, as you can see, she plays the piano. She does everything by book. So her mom knew immediately that something was wrong. Exactly how was Laura Lee found killed? Because as we all know, details matter.

Laura Lee Spear is found lying in a pool of her own blood, shot in the back of the head three times. Spear's hands had been tied together and much of her clothing is missing or torn away. Spear has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she was beaten. It appears Spear's attacker attempted to sexually assault her and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants of Spears' clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in the days after her death. The tragic slaying of a young 15-year-old girl haunts a small Florida town, kidnapped from her school bus and shot dead. Who killed Laura Lee Spear? What clues were left behind? Listen. Immediately after Laura Lee Spear is found shot, it's all hands on deck to find out

what happened to the teen in her short walk home from the bus. Detectives believe Laura Lee only made it about 200 yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted. They estimate Laura Lee was dead within 25 minutes of getting off the bus. The bus driver says nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he watched Laura Lee start her walk home. And a small group of people selling plans along the route also don't recall seeing anything or anyone suspicious as Laura Lee passed by. To Cheryl McCollum, a forensics expert who has personally investigated this case as well, along with Sheriff Chitwood and Detective LeMay. Cheryl, 200 yards, it's all over in 200 yards. That tells me the perp had to be in a vehicle. Who would know about that area and that burned

out house other than a local? The house was not right on the street and it all happened within 200 yards. That's not even a football field. That also tells me this was not just a crime of opportunity. Somebody knew about that bus stop. Somebody had targeted Laura Lee. That opens me up to who? Okay, I know where mom and dad are, so they can be ruled out. But who had seen her at one of the games where she was a cheerleader? Who had seen her at some of her many activities she took part in? Of course, then you've got to look at those closest to her, although I mentioned the parents have been ruled out. But beyond that, you've got to look at uncles. You've got to look at family. Somebody that knew she was getting off that bus stop then.

What do you make of just 200 yards, Cheryl? Nancy, you mentioned bus stops. They are a pattern built in for kidnappers. They know exactly when that bus is going to be at that intersection, and they don't have to follow it more than one day to know that only one student gets off there from the hospital. I believe this person is local. I believe they did know her in some way, and I absolutely know they knew that area, no doubt about it. Well, I mean, Cheryl, I don't disagree with you, but that's just a bald assertion. Explain why. Again, that house is way off the road. It had been burned out a year before.

Local teenagers went there to drink and smoke pot and hang out. It's a very narrow group that would know that house, be familiar with that house, know that Laura Lee would get off the bus by herself, be able to grab her, control her because they did have a firearm, drive her to the house, tie her up, assault her, get rid of her book bag and drive away. This was very fast. This was not a long drawn out crime by any means. To Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the elected sheriff in Volusia County. Sheriff, thank you for being with us. Listening to Cheryl speak, it jumps out at me that if this was a teen hangout, then a natural assumption, not a leap of logic, would be that a teen, an older teen, did this. And of course, we know that killers typically, not always, but typically kill within their own race. That tells me I'm looking at a white male between, I know it can

drive, between 16 and to really push it, I go to 25 to 29 max. What do you make of that? That's exactly what the investigators focused on in the early goings. This killer brought a firearm and the killer brought a ligature to be able to fasten her hands together and tie her up. And again, as everybody keeps saying, this burned down house, if you go see the topography, you don't know about that unless you're from that area. You're back there drinking. You're back there smoking weed. It's got to be somebody that can drive. It's somebody that's familiar with the comings and goings there. And that's what the investigation has focused on through all of these years. And it's somebody, to Detective Cordell

LeMay, it's somebody that's not at work in the middle of the day. That strikes me. I grew up in one of those homes where everybody either went to school or they went to work and nobody ever laid out. Nobody even dared say, oh, I feel bad today. No, everybody goes to work. And I walked home every day from school on a dirt road, just like Jenny is describing, where crime, nobody ever even heard of it. Just like around the time when she, Laura Lee, goes missing. Hey, Detective LeMay, I'm curious about the ligature. And the sheriff's brought up a really good point. This person came prepared. They had ligatures. They had a gun brought up a really good point. This person came prepared. They had ligatures. They had a gun. They were in a vehicle. They weren't at work. And they knew about this hideout, this old burned out house where teens smoked and did pot. So question,

what type of ligatures were used? So it was rope. It was thin rope, like twine almost. And it was loosely tied around her wrists. So it's not like this person was, you know, an expert or, you know, Boy Scout was enough to bind her hands and keep her from using them. Unless at some point during what happened, she managed to loosen up herself and free herself a little bit. There's no way to know that. You know, Cheryl McCollum, based on what Detective Cordell LeMay just said, it may not have required tight binding if she had taken a blow to the face or any attack at all. I doubt that she could have fought back, but she was bound, leading me up to that is an excellent source of DNA. Why? Because whoever's tying the knot has to pull the rope and it goes across your hands if it is collected correctly. And at that time, I mean, touch DNA, the advent of touch DNA has just been in the last couple of years.

Nobody knew about epithelial cells when Laura Lee was murdered. That has just happened. That's a major advancement. But that is an incredible source for DNA evidence, Cheryl. It is. And that's something Detective LeMay and I have talked about, to test and retest all the items. And Nancy, the other thing that is pretty clear is because of Volusia County, this evidence was located and collected so quickly. You're talking about within 30 minutes. They had it.

They saw her. And here's the other thing about this killer. Yes, he came with a loaded weapon and something to bind her with, but he made no effort to conceal her body. So again, this leads me to think this person is young. They were inexperienced in this type of crime. And I believe his DNA will be on some of the items that were left at that scene. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Sheriff Mike Chitwood, special guest joining us today, elected sheriff Felicia County.

Sheriff, was she sex assaulted, this 15-year-old teen girl? She was. And we have, again, because of the great work by the initial detectives, we have that DNA. And it has been, I guess we've excluded probably 50 suspects based on that Y star DNA that we have. So she was molested. I understand, Cheryl McCollum, that she was partially nude. Correct. That's my understanding. So, again, some of the clothing left on her is extremely interesting to me because I believe we can get more DNA and maybe develop an entire profile from that. Because there's a better chance of me getting DNA off the clothes. If her pants were yanked down or her shirt was ripped open, anything along those lines, I'm getting more of a chance of getting DNA.

You know, some victims are forced to disrobe themselves. That's not what happened here because she was tied up. And I want to apologize to Virginia Jeannie Bissell. This is Laura Lee's sister, who is haunted by this to this day. We have launched into the only thing we know how to do. This is all we're good for, Jenny, is analyzing facts, analyzing evidence and building a case. And you're sitting there hearing me talking about her being bound. Was she partially clothed? Was she forced to disrobe herself?

While you're thinking of your sister as one of the loves, the great loves of your life. And I want to apologize about the analytical way we're describing what happened. And I hope you understand what we're doing. No, no, I totally understand. I want to talk about retesting. And I also want to, you know, so often we hear, oh, the cops did this wrong. They did that wrong. The sheriff screwed this up, blah, blah, blah. And sometimes it's true, but not in this case. If you only knew the immediate rollout, the canvassing, the aerial, the dogs, everything,

they were on it. Listen. Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department joined Volusia County sheriffs to canvass Spears' neighborhood for a week. Over a thousand tips are collected in the month following Laura Lee's murder, and police learn a group of people are hanging out and shooting guns at the burned-down home where the body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark-colored truck near the crime scene. Laura Lee Spears' family continues their fight to identify the teen's killer. Police call for the public's help to solve the case and bring a killer to justice. Then there is what we think is going to be a big break in the case. Listen.

Six months pass and then a tip from an inmate comes in claiming Bobby Raleigh says he killed Laura Lee Spear. Raleigh, 20, is awaiting trial for the double murder of two West Volusia men killed six weeks after Spear's death. Raleigh also owns a dark colored truck matching the description of the one spotted near the crime scene. Raleigh is charged with the murder of Laura Lee Spear. He vehemently denies involvement. Nearly three years in, Raleigh manages to produce a solid alibi. Receipts showing he was at a car repair shop at the time of the murder. The charges are dropped and Volusia County sheriffs are back to square one. Jenny Masell, Laura Lee's sister, that had to be like a gut punch. They think they've got the guy, they investigate, investigate, investigate. Three years pass and suddenly he has a rock solid alibi. Why he didn't produce it earlier, that I don't know. But he did produce it.

And after three years of thinking, the killer was caught. You find out, no, that's not him. That had to be horrible for your family. Right. It was like taking the wind out of our sails, kind of. We were very hopeful that we had the guy. But then to be let down to say that, no, it didn't work out. Um, it was disheartening to say the least, and then having to go back to square one to try to figure out who it could potentially be. Now your, your, your guard is up now because you think, oh, I can breathe, you know, because before you're always

having to look over your shoulder or, you know, is it this person? Could it be that person? You know, I mean, we're still living in that, in that fear of who could it be now. That has got to be complete hell that every time you get to the local grocery store, you look at a guy and think, well, was it you? Were you the one watching my sister? Did you sex assault and murder her? Did you bind my sister and leave her lying out in the open that way? I would be suspicious of everybody I saw. You look at the preacher.

You look at the church custodian, the school custodian, the neighbors, everybody is under a cloud of suspicion. But today, Sheriff Mike Chitwood has a major announcement for us. He is not sitting back and just reviewing case files. He's doing something about it. Sheriff Chitwood, could you describe the new reward that you are announcing? I can, Nancy. Today would have been Laura Lee's 46th birthday. It's 30 years since this horrific, brutal sexual assault and execution occurred to this young lady and that family was destroyed. We are offering a hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of persons or persons who were responsible for this horrific act. You know, Sheriff, that is amazing.

Number one, that you and Detective LeMay are still working this case. You want justice, but somehow you have managed to raise $100,000 to finish this investigation. That never happens, Sheriff. That never happens. Most cases have no reward at all. Nothing, much less $100,000 reward. That's amazing. Nancy, we don't know what else to do. The detectives throughout the decades have poured their heart and soul into this case. Detective LeMay even was up in Philadelphia with the

Vidoc Society going through this case with dozens and dozens of cold case investigators. We have to do something. As said this whole segment people knew people know this was not this was this was not something that happened in the strange it was not something that was a spur of the moment it was planned people know they need to do the right thing now for laura lee and for her family the hunt continues for la Lee Spears' killer. Could a jailhouse confession be the key to closing this cold case? Every day, now a day goes by that I don't think about her. I always wonder what she would think of Christmas or Thanksgiving or birthday. I always wonder where she'll be at.

If things were different, if somebody had just left her alone that day and let her live, what life would be like with her here. I'm sure it would have been a lot happier. You are hearing Sister Ginny Bissell, who to this day is haunted by her sister's kidnap, assault, and murder just 200 yards, less than 200 yards from the bus stop.

Cheryl McCollum, I want to talk about retesting this DNA. How can we make that happen? In addition to this incredible, incredible reward, the sheriff has cobbled together Sheriff Chitwood and Detective LeMay announcing today a $100,000 reward for information leading to solving Laura Lee's murder. What about retesting Cheryl McCollum? You know, Detective LeMay and I have already talked about getting perhaps her bra essentially to a private lab like Othram. It's going to be critical that they retest everything, even if something's already been tested. The technology today is nothing compared to what they could do in 1994. They can do things now that would have been unheard of. Othram only needs six sales to get a full profile of a suspect. We've got to get everything to them as soon as we can.

And I'll tell you, Nancy, what I just heard the sheriff say, there is 100,000 reasons for somebody to come forward. And to Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the Lucia County elected sheriff who's announcing a hundred thousand dollar reward to solve this case. Sheriff, the perp may not have been in the database at the time Laura Lee was murdered, but I guarantee you this guy This guy didn't commit a one time sex assault, kidnap, murder. No way. He had to have done something else, some violent crime since Laura Lee was murdered. He should be in the database now. Would you agree with that?

This ain't a one off. Yeah, I absolutely one thousand one percent agree with that. You know, he did it. He got away with it. This is something that I believe was in his DNA. There are other probably sexual assault victims or homicide victims out there related to this guy. We've got to get this DNA to Othram Labs or a similar lab that handles degenerated or degraded DNA or old DNA. It's a specialty niche.

To Virginia Jenny Bissell, this is Laura Lee's sister. What is your message today? To whomever you want it to be heard, wherever you want it to be heard. It can be to DeSantis, the governor. It can be to Moody, the Florida Attorney General. It can be to the public. And on top of that, Laura Lane needs to rest in peace.

We need to find her killer and we need to do it by whatever means necessary to find it. And the fact that somebody has been quiet for this long, unacceptable. You can run, you can hide, but we'll catch up to you. I'm not giving up. And it's not just the perp, Jenny. It could be the mom who washed bloody clothes. It could be the dad who realized his teen had taken the family gun that day. It could be a number of people, someone maybe the perp bragged to or knew too much information and talked about it or asked

too many questions or followed the case in an odd or obsessive way. Someone knows the answer to this riddle. Who killed Laura Lee? If you know or even think you know any information about Laura Lee's kidnap from the school bus and murder, dial 386-254-1537. There is a new $100,000 reward. Thanks to Sheriff Mike Chitwood. Thank you to our guests for being with us. Thank you to you for joining us here. But especially to Jenny Bissell, who tells the story of her sister's murder.

Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.