Murder With My Husband - 41. Deborah Groseclose - The Memphis Tragedy

Episode Date: December 21, 2020

On this episode of Murder With My Husband, Payton and Garrett discuss the story of Deborah Groseclose. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Case Sources: On this case with paula zahn https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2019/07/17/two-killers-serving-life-sentences-memphis-murder-up-parole/1742860001/ https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/7071899/groseclose-denied-parole/ https://dailymemphian.com/article/7015/Phillip-Britt-convicted-in-1977-murder-of-Deborah-Groseclose-denied-parole https://www.inquisitr.com/3673961/deborah-debbie-groseclose-memphis-nurse-kidnapped-found-dead-in-car-trunk-by-husband-william-grosecloses-thug-friends-on-suspicion/ Follow our Socials: https://www.facebook.com/mwithmyhusband/ https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ https://twitter.com/murderwmhusband/ Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Yes, you energy, energy for everything. Captain Banner now to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. If we sound a bit different today, it's because Garrett and I both have a cold and we

are on the tail end of it, I think we're getting there, but we just have stuff he knows this. Oh, oh, and a little bit of a cough. So we're really sorry if it sounds a little bit different today, but we didn't want to miss out on episode so here we are. Our case sources for today's episode are commercial appeal.com WMC Action News 5.com daily men fee and calm and inquisitor.com. Our story begins on June 29th, 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee. It's around 10 a.m. when police receive a missing person report of a 24 year old mother named Deborah Gross Close Gross Close. Also, the whole time I was researching

this, I just kept saying the last name over and over again. Say it again. Gross Close. Okay. Kind of catchy. Yep. Her husband, Bill Gross Close, who goes by William, by the way, made the report stating that Deborah was a nurse and had supposedly not arrived for her shift that morning at Methodist Hospital. Also just shout out to nurses, I have a brother who's a nurse in there awesome. Police are kind of confused why Bill is reporting so soon, it seemed a bit early to be so worried about his missing wife. But they soon understand his panic when he tells them that the reason he is so distraught

about her not showing up for work is because just yesterday, his wife had experienced what he says to be a life or death situation with a dangerous looking stranger. So she goes missing and like right after she's missing, he calls the police. She hasn't even been missing that long and they're like, hey, yo, why why call so early? Like, have you even checked to see if she's anywhere else? And he says, no, because yesterday she had a run in with a life or death situation with a dangerous looking stranger. And so I'm worried that she can show up for a shift already a little fishy. Police check records immediately and discover that the missing Deborah had in fact called

police the day before stating that she was confronted after work in the hospital parking lot by a man who looked like a biker. Oh wow. This meaning he was a white male, six feet tall, shoulder length hair, unkept, he had a beard and he was wearing like a motor cycle outfit, like a denim jacket leather all that.

Got it, okay. She told dispatch that he came out of nowhere and rushed towards her claiming that he needed to talk to her. So he just ambushes her in the parking lot of her hospital where she works. She asks him, uh, what do you have to talk to me about? And he says, I need to talk to you about your life. And she gets like all freaked out. So she rushes to her car, trying to get away from him. He's following her, not letting up, but she gets into her car and gets him locked out of the car. So he goes to his own car and starts following her

and he follows her all the way home, which by the way, if someone's ever following you, don't drive home. Okay, so this isn't the 70s, right? Yeah, 77. Okay, so that's why she didn't call her husband on the way home. I mean, I think also back then we didn't like really comprehend stranger danger really or like if someone's following you.

Wasn't that started in the 70s? Do you know? Yes, it was started for little kids, but it's actually kind of a dangerous movement in a way because a lot of predators who hurt little kids aren't strangers. And so we started this whole, oh my gosh, stranger danger, which is true because of the kidnapping rate, but a lot of the time, kids have to be wary of people who aren't strangers, coaches, family, stuff like that. Deborah drove into her driveway and the man pulled in after her embarked behind her car in her

own driveway. So she begins desperately honking her horn, hoping that her husband would come outside, and this is when the man backs up and drives away. After police make this connection between yesterday's chaotic call and today's missing woman, they respond to Bill Gross' closest report. That's her husband. Bill tells them that the last time he had seen Debra was around 6 a.m. that morning, when he had left their house to

run some errands, taking their one-year-old son with him. Debra actually had a daughter from a previous relationship that also lived with the family. So it was Bill and Debra and their two kids, a boy and a girl. The daughter was left at home. I don't think the daughter was at home. Okay. I could not find if she was with maybe the dad, like not Bill, but the other dad,

or whatever I couldn't find. But I don't think she was at the house. Father and son come back around 9 a.m. and it looked like Debra had already left for work, but around 9 30, Bill received a call that she hadn't shown up for work. And so he immediately calls police. Deborah's friends and family are notified

that she's missing in hopes that someone had heard or seen from her, no one had, and everyone was worried because the incident the day before with the biker, dude in the parking lot. Family says that Deborah was the sweetest person whose kids were the most important thing to her. They assure police that no one would want to hurt her. So they have no idea what's going on. With that in mind, police immediately run with the working theory that is the unknown biker stalker guy was the suspect of Deborah Glow's closest disappearance.

I think it was kind of weird that he said, I wanna talk to you about your life. Yeah. That just sits still stuck with me. That just such a, I guess, weird statement. Specific. Yeah, it's so specific. Yeah, thing to say. And he must have said it in a way that came off.

Creepy? Yes, because she immediately was like, I'm not talking to you, like I'm going to get in my car. They were not only asking police, we're not only asking if anyone had seen Deborah, but also if anyone had seen this mysterious but very descriptive suspect the biker. Sergeant Richard Sojourner was assigned to the case immediately and his first action was to sit down and talk with Bill Gross close at his home he shared with Debra.

He needed a photograph of Debra to put on a missing person flyer to see the potential crime scene, etc. he just needed to go to her house. While there, the sergeant asks Bill what he had done that morning. Bill again tells Sergeant Richard that he had gone to his office around 6am to pick up his paycheck and he took their one-year-old son. He worked as a Navy recruiter. When he arrived home after picking up his paycheck, he noticed that Deborah's convertible was not in the driveway, but that wasn't odd as he assumed that she had gone to work.

Sergeant Richard then asks Bill about how their marriage is going, and Bill admits that he and Deborah had been fighting, but the issues were being worked on with a marriage counselor. And I think the sergeant was like, oh, he was very honest about it. He has nothing to hide. It's so hard because a lot of like him following the house and all this, I feel like you can't do that now. I mean, you can. But you can't because there's cameras everywhere. You'd see the license plate. You would see what the person looks like.

Yeah. So it's interesting. Completely. Police confirmed Bill's story. He had in fact picked up his check that morning. And Deborah's mother told them that they were working on their marriage. And Deborah, her daughter did want to fix it.

No one thinks that Deborah left of her own free will. And as hours turn into days without any sightings or leads, police will pressure to find her. On the 4th of July, 6 days after Deborah went missing, a call comes in stating that a convertible was sitting in the parking lot of an old library in town, which was only about a mile away from Deborah's workplace to hospital. And it looked like the one they were looking for. So they were like, oh, her car's missing. And someone was like, there's one sitting

in this old abandoned library parking lot. Memphis police rushed to the parking lot and discovered as they get there, an odor coming out of the car. They also noticed a number of flies lurking around the vehicle. Oh, no. The keys were laying in the floorboard of the car. And so they grabbed them and they open up the trunk.

Keep in mind, it's mid-summer in Memphis, Tennessee, and the heat is extensive. That's horrible. When police open the trunk, they find a badly decomposing body. Because of said heat, the body was unrecognizable after only six days really I didn't know that a body could decompose that fast in heat or like extreme measures Okay, but her wedding ring and nurses uniform confirm everyone's fears the victim in the trunk was Deborah gross close

Found in her own vehicle six days after she went missing. Wait, so she had her nursing clothes on? She had her scrubs on and stuff. As if she was going to work. Oh, wow. She was going. The medical examiner confirmed through dental records that it was her. And trigger warning, I am going to tell you what the medical examiner discovered now, so skip ahead if you don't want to hear.

He concluded that Deborah had been put in her trunk alive after being raped, choked, strangled, stabbed, and beaten. Oh my gosh. She died by being locked in her own trunk that was reaching 140 to 150 degrees during the day and they don't know how long she sat in there alive. That is so sad. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately

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first order. That's native deo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout. native.deo.com slash husband and use promo code husband. These details obviously spread throughout the community and fear sets in. Why had this young mother been targeted? What could you know who could have done this? But several witnesses come forward claiming to have seen a bearded man near and around the park convertible in the library parking lot And keep in mind the guy who ambushed her the day before she went missing also had a beard according to her

And now witnesses come forward saying oh, we saw a bearded man around that parked car in the library parking lot This guy must look like something out of the ordinary for this many people to recall him being there for like absolutely no reason. Yeah. The witnesses help police configure a composite sketch of the suspect and it's released. Someone immediately recognizes the sketch and calls police to tell them that they don't know the name of the guy in the drawing, but a nickname that he goes by and it's outlaw. Which I know way. Yeah, outlaw. I'm in outlaw.

So police searched their records and discovered that they know of someone who goes by that nickname. So they like talked everyone, they go through all their paperwork and they're like, oh, we've definitely come in contact with this guy who goes by outlaw. His real name was Charles Sarp and he did bear a resemblance to the composite.

I witnessed his confirm that they think that was the guy they saw. Investigators race to find Charles Sarp and discover that he was actually in police custody for an unrelated offense at the time of the disappearance. So this obviously doesn't work. This is the guy. Like, it's probably the most solid alibi you can have. Yeah. So how did this happen? Police are literally back to square one.

After just like talking to witnesses, making this sketch, putting it out, getting a call. That's just so frustrating. Did the hospital not get this guy on camera? Because I'm sure the hospital had cameras back then. So they not get the guy on camera when she was in the parking lot. Yeah, so I don't know it. Okay, I can't say this because I watched for one of the sources I watched this episode

of on this case with Paul Azon. And they made it look like it was the top floor of a parking structure. Oh, okay. So I don't know. Huh. I mean, I would think there would still be, but I don't even know if that's the case. That's just what it looked like. Well, I mean, I assume if there would still be, but I don't even know if that's the case. That's just what it looked like. I mean, I assume if there was cameras that actually got something good, it would have been.

It would have been in history. Yeah. Okay. Police began combing through the gross closest life again. Like we're back to square one. We got to discover what was going on in her life. And they find that Bill, her husband, had recently tried to increase the life insurance policy on Bill, her husband had recently tried to increase the life insurance policy on Deborah, but not him. No way. Which normally if you're going to increase life insurance, you're going to do it on the couple together, but he just did it just on her.

Although this isn't much to go on, police decide to look into Bill anyways. Like this would always be something that would be like a trigger for, okay, he's a suspect. I think it's so, I mean, I know we saw a lot left, but if it was Bill at the end or he planned it, it's just so crazy that you can kill your significant other and then be like, yeah, I don't know what happened to her. Yeah. I mean, I know we're not sure if that's what happened yet,

but I'm just saying that's just crazy. But also, like about that when we talk about significant others killing each other in such a gruesome way. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like if I was a third party of this like situation and what his wife is dead by being

put in a trunk alive in the summertime after being completely just tortured. Yeah. Like I would be like I hope with everything I have that it wasn't the husband. One of their neighbors tells police that there was a station wagon at the gross closest house the morning of Deborah's disappearance. So Bill tells police they're like hey what's up? Why didn't you tell us that this you know who was in the station wagon? Why was it your house the morning she disappeared and he goes, it belonged to a friend of mine named Philip Britt, who came over to borrow a wrench

shortly after I reported her missing. And police are kind of like, you just left that small little detail out. Well, I'm like, like your wife's missing. She just had a deadly encounter the day before and you're like, come over, are my wrench, you know? One police question more about this lead, Bill becomes closed off and aggressive. He's frustrated that police are questioning him.

The police department immediately put around the clock surveillance on Bill and his house. It doesn't take long for the mysterious station wagon to appear back at the house again. Police run the plates and discover that Bill had in fact lied to them. And the station wagon doesn't belong to Philip Brit but to a donny Tatum, a former biker. Oh, of course it is. Well, and he lied. Like this means that he lied to the police

saying that it was his friend Philip Brit but really it's donny Tatums. Did he not think they were gonna check this? I don't, well, I don't know, maybe because he thought they would never find the station wagon again, yeah. But they, I mean, the station wagon came to his house again. It's just insane.

Yeah. Police go to Tatum's house to question him and he claims he doesn't know anything. But when police tell him that they have his car at the gross closest house multiple times including the day of the murder He changes his story Tatum confesses that he knew who killed Deborah gross close He says that his friends fill up Brit who is the man who supposedly owned the station wagon

But didn't end up being done in Tatum and another man named Ronald Rickman had borrowed his station wagon but didn't end up being Donutanum. And another man named Ronald Rickman had borrowed his station wagon and used it to murder Deborah Gross Close and then they did it at the request of her husband Bill Gross Close. So he's like, Donnie's like, I have nothing to do with this murder. I just know that my friends Philip, Brit, and Ronald Rickman took my car and murdered her at the request of her husband. I guess I'm just trying to process this. So how does he think he's coming out of it? Because he used his car.

How does he think he's, oh, they won't think I'm involved? Well, I think if he tells them information, which he does, then he'll get like a plea deal and something. So he just full, he throws all them under the bus. Yeah. He's like, only my car was used in this. I had nothing to do with it. I just know what happened, which I feel like usually the first person to throw everyone

into the bus gets the best deal. Exactly. He says that it had been no secret that Bill was looking for a hitman to murder his wife. Oh my god. He said he also was no secret that Bill wanted nothing to do with the actual killing itself. So that's why he needed a hitman. He didn't want to kill her himself. He just wanted someone else to kill her. And he like talked about it. What a psychopath. Tatum tells detectives where to find the other two friends. And when they go find them, fill up confesses that he had been paid

to murder Deborah Gross close. He says that their first attempt had failed when she eluded them in the hospital parking lot the day before. Yeah, so he was the biker dude. Philip was the biker dude. He had tried to kidnap her out of the hospital parking lot, but she got away, drove all the way to her home,

honked her horn for her dear husband, hero, to come out and say for even though he was the one who had set up her murder that day. So Bill told them to come back the next morning. He's like, you guys felled, you didn't do it. Come back the next morning, come through the unlocked back door. I'm going to unlock the back door. And when I leave out the front door, you guys come in the back door.

How did the wife not hear any of this? Because it's not now where they can text someone, right? He's on the phone where she can probably hear. Yeah, oh, I'm sure he's not doing it while she's home or. Yeah. Or he's meeting them in person to do it as well. When they attacked her in her home that morning, after failing the day before, Deborah screamed for Bill's help. Her husband.

So sad. But they tell her, oh, he's not going to come rescue you. He paid us to kill you today. Can you just imagine? Yeah, that's horrible. Phillip and Ron old throw her body into the trunk of her own car and drive it to the old library parking lot. And they both thought she was dead when they put her in the trunk. But on the way to the library, they hear her making noises in the back of the trunk because she's not dead. She just passed out and they choose not to do anything about it. They just park the car and leave her there. So if they found the car earlier, then there's probably a chance that they would have found her alive. Maybe. Oh, man. I'm not sure how long it takes someone to die of heat in a locked trunk.

Probably quickly. I mean, I don't know, but I mean, every summer, I feel like there's those horrible stories that. Yeah. And I mean, she had been stabbed. She had been even. Yeah. I'm seeing.

The only reason that they even came back to the house that morning was because they forgot to grab her purse when they took her, which wouldn't make sense if they were trying to make it look like this happened at work. Philip then led police to a nearby gas station, where he's like, this is where we threw away the gloves. We used walk-killing or hazard DNA all over it,

and police literally pulled the gloves out. So they have like solid evidence on them as well as the question. Just took them out of the trash or whatever. Oh my gosh. So do you want to guess the price that Philip and Ronald did this for that bill gave them to do this? I'm I'm gonna guess it's pretty low actually. I'm sure it was like I mean. For a life to kill someone. I mean, you would think it's high, but

I'm guessing that they really needed the money or something. So in the 70s, 500 bucks each. $150 before. And then if they succeed $700 after he gets the life insurance, but I will say a person or like total total. Okay. But if my life is chalked up to $950, I'm going to be really sad. Yeah. Like that is horrible.

Not saying a life is priceless. There should be no amount of money for a life. There's people out there that would kill someone. Well, here's the best part I heard. I don't know if this is a rumor, but I heard Bill tried to just do it for $50 each, but criminals have standards. Oh my God. No.

Make it $150 and we have a deal. That's so crazy. Also, I'm pretty sure neither of them ever got paid Who gets the longer gel time? I'm sure you're gonna get that out. Okay. So police head to Bill's house and tell him Hey, we think we know who killed your wife and if you come to the station will tell you about it He doesn't ask who what or why he just gets into their car silently who, what, or why? He just gets into their car silently. Once in the car, he asked if the people that they thought did it are talking. And Sergeant Richard said yes. Gross clothes denied all charges and told police he will never serve a day for the murder of his wife. He's like, I had nothing to do with it and I'll never

serve a day. All three, Philip Brit, Ronald Rickman, and Bill gross close were arrested and charged. So keep in mind, Donnie Tatum wasn't in that. And I couldn't really find anything about whether or not he was arrested or anything. Yeah. All three men were put on trial together, baking a woman to death is no joke. The jury found all three guilty. Philip Brit was sentenced to life in prison and Ronald Rickman and Bill Gross close were sentenced to death. And I think the only reason Philip Brit didn't was because they found him first

and so he confessed, sent him the gloves, everything. Ronald has come out since and said that he doesn't feel like his sentence is fair and he's not responsible for her death. So he's like, I don't get why I got the death penalty and Philip didn't like, I'm not responsible anymore for her death than he is. Oh my gosh. Bill, her husband claims still to not have any part of it and he's clearly innocent

and I didn't do this. How can you still claim that after all this time? And yeah, it gets the death penalty. Yeah. So 20 years after the convictions of the three, they were overturned due to incompetent representation, which essentially means that their lawyers didn't do a good enough job, like they got found guilty.

What else do you need, they found the gloves, someone confessed and told them exactly what happened and found the car. I'm hoping this doesn't happen anymore, but this seems like a really weird loophole. Because it's happened in the 90s, because this was 77, it was about 20 years later. But I'm like, okay, so if you don't win a trial,

can you just claim, oh, my lawyer was incompetent? I have no idea, that's so interesting. So a brand new trial is set, and they have to convince a whole new jury that these men are guilty once again. Obviously, 20 years later. 20 years later. So Bill had never written either of the kids

that he was raising with Debra while he was in prison. So he gets arrested and charged with his wife's murder and then never talks to the kids that he was raising with her again. And one of them is his blood kid. Okay, yeah. And now these kids, 20 years later, have to sit through another trial for their mother who woke up in the trunk of her car

and with no one to help her out and died in there from their own father. So they were all found guilty, but this time Ronald and Bill were sentenced to life in prison, no death penalty. So the death penalty charge gets taken away. Okay. And keep in mind, this isn't life in prison

without the possibility of parole. So they both are eligible for parole every couple of years. And every couple of years, the family has to testify to keep them in prison, which means they have to relive this crime, tell the details of it, say how it's impacted them. Wow, I didn't know that. I didn't know that they have to, you know how often like every five years every six. So six is the maximum you can go. So you the state can say in six years, you'll have a parole, but it could be two years. Two years.

Yeah, it can be anything. And the family doesn't have to testify like they don't have to go in every day. But they want to keep them in prison. So they do. Yeah. So they just basically were screwed over in this situation. Totally. But Bill Grossclose has been denied parole every single time it's come up.

And the states of Memphis has made him wait a full six years. So every time he gets parole, it's not only are you denied, but your next parole hearing won't be for another six years, which is the largest gap in Memphis that you can take. And his next parole hearing will be in August of 2022, according to Yolanda James with the Daily Memphian. So if we are still around in two years, I'll go ahead and update you guys on how Bill Grossclose is from all herringos. But yeah, that's the story of Deborah Grossclose.

Man, that's brutal. Brutal. I can't believe that he really hired two people to kill his wife. And not only the fact that he hired them, they failed. And he's like, oh, just come back tomorrow. I know. He didn't get scared at all. He's like, no, it's fine.

Yeah, just come back tomorrow. That's insane. And the worst part is, is they still don't really know. The life insurance policy was around $30,000. So they still don't really know why. Was it just the life insurance policy? I mean, I feel like he's just got to be crazy. I mean, he never talked to his kid again as well. That just doesn't seem like a very. Yes, I agree. Yeah, I agree completely. But yeah, that's the story of Debra Gross Close. We just want to say thank you to everyone

who is listening. And if you're new, welcome. We are so excited about this. Remember that we have merch dropping soon. So stay tuned on our social media and on here for that, as well as a Patreon coming up in the new year. Awesome, and we'll see you guys next week with another episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.

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