True Crime All The Time - Shawn Gant-Benalcazar

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Austin, Texas experienced three similar murders in December 2014. The killer left behind no DNA evidence, and the police worried they were dealing with a serial killer. A neighbor testing out his new thermal imaging scope recorded evidence that would help identify the killer. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Shawn Gant-Benalcazar. Shawn didn't have a long history of criminal activity but was linked to several murders through an associate named Tim Parlin. The murders were ruthless, and the police knew they had to catch this killer before more innocent people were killed. The investigation led them down a winding path and, ultimately, multiple juries to make sense of what happened.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 419 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about yourself? Trying to stay warm? Yeah, it's hard to do. It's been below zero here a few days and I'm not happy about it. I can tell. You're a little angry.

Sometimes hangary. Oh, I can go along with that one. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Kathy. Hey, Kathy. Sarah Elias. Hey, Sarah. Samantha. Samantha. Catherine Deakin jumped up to our highest level. Oh, you're awesome, Catherine. Beth Cubera.

Hey, Beth. Rinda Hinskin. Henskin? Yep. Yeah. Keita. What's going on, Keita? Destiny Valentine. Well, thanks, Destiny. Adele. There's Adele. She's got some good lungs on her. Yep. Ashton Graves. What's going on, Ashton? And last but not least, Rebecca Marley. I like that name, Marley. Yeah, I hope no one takes sure she's got to some good lungs on her the wrong way. I meant the singing. Pipes. Yeah.

She's got the pipes. A lot of times, you know, that can refer to something else. I don't know what you're talking about. Then if we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Chlorange. Achlorange, that's an interesting name. Yeah, if it is a name, I don't really know what it is, but we don't make up the Patreon monikers.

People make their own up. It's a word. Interesting word. Yeah. So let's talk about true crime all the time on salt. We have an episode out right now on the Fort Worth missing trio. This goes back to 1974. And it was just before Christmas that three girls went out Christmas shopping and never came home. So it's a good episode. Check that out. We talk about the leads, the potential suspects, all of them. It's just really sad. Yeah. Obviously, it's incredibly sad.

We also had a Patreon episode that dropped Saturday night. And it was on Kerry Murphy, who in 2012 called 911 to report that someone broke into her home and attacked her mother. But Carrie became the main suspect after she told multiple stories about what happened that night. But there's so many twists and turns in this one. and people become involved and then get ruled out, become involved again. I know. It's like you're just walking around in circles for a little bit.

Yes. There are a lot of suspects saying a lot of things. Very little of it truthful. But it's a really good case. It is. It is a good case. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time?

Hey, I am. We are talking about Sean Gant, Banalcazar, Austin, Texas. experienced three similar murders. In December 2014, the killer left behind no DNA evidence. And the police worried they were dealing with a serial killer. A neighbor testing out his new thermal imaging scope, recorded evidence that would help identify the killer.

And I know you have a number of thermal imaging gadgets, both mounted on guns, some are just guns. some are just goggles that you wear as you're out all dressed in black. First of all, I don't know how you afford these things. Second of all, I don't know what you do with all these things, but they're a very key part of my wardrobe. And what you do, which is very, very secretive. Kathy Blair was born in Burbank, California on May 31st, 1961. she was 53 years old when she was murdered.

Her sister, Kirsten Matheson, told 48 hours that Kathy always loved singing. And she moved from California to Austin, Texas because of her love for music. She graduated from UT Austin with a master's degree in vocal performance. Kathy decided to stay in Austin because she loved the city and it felt like home to her. And a lot of people do love Austin. They do. what's the slogan keep austin weird there's a number of different slogans about austin but the one thing that is definitely true is that they have a thriving music scene they do there used to be a show maybe

it's still on but a long time ago they had a show called austin city lights or city limits i forget what the city lights i think it was too i know i was supposed to perform there once i just those days when i was down in Nashville singing and couldn't get couldn't make it to austin Couldn't make it the Austin. Because you were at the Opry. Yeah. That's where I wrote that song, Dear Austin. For Blake Shelton?

Yes. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks Blake for buying that off of me. Kathy had been divorced twice and had two children. By 2014, she was renting a house in a quiet neighborhood in Austin. Kathy was the director of the Christian Choral Society of Austin and the music coordinator for the Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Her students loved her and considered her role model.

Sounds like a pretty good person. Well, let's face it, as do many of the victims that we ultimately end up talking about. In November 2014, Kathy's son Joseph Hargis temporarily moved in with her while awaiting his assignment from the Navy. He had a night out on December 5, 2014, and returned just afternoon. on the sixth. He found his mother dead in her bedroom. He told the 911 operator per 48 hours, I think my mom is dead. There's a lot of blood. I think someone broke in and killed my mom. Tragic. There was evidence of a great struggle. Kathy had been choked, stabbed, and slashed across her neck. She was robbed after she was killed. And you said, you know, obviously a horrible situation.

number one for a son to find his mom like this. But then just in the way that she was killed, this was obviously a very vicious murder. She fought her attacker. She wanted to live. But obviously, whoever killed her, overpowered her, choked her, stabbed, and slashed her. Detective Derek Israel,

was the lead investigator. He told 48 hours that several things stood out to him. The murder occurred in a low crime area. And there was nothing about Kathy's home that stood out from others to make her a target. And I think that's interesting, right? As you're looking at or kind of going through the victim knowledge, well, what is it about this person? Yeah, what made someone occur?

Now, obviously it could be someone who knows her who has an issue with her. But if you're if you're looking at it from a stranger murder standpoint, well, then there's got to be something that stands out. You know, maybe she's driving an expensive car or, you know, something like that. She's got the most expensive house on the block. I think this detective is kind of saying, we didn't see anything like that. Nothing really jumped out at us. Kathy kept a jewelry case in her bedroom. All the drawers had been pulled out and emptied,

then left in a pile on the floor. And I mean, I think from that alone, you can draw a pretty safe conclusion that it seems like robbery is involved in this thing. Now, there have been many times where drawers have been pulled out, emptied, and it's nothing more than an attempt. to stage a robbery. Sure. To try to cover up what really happened or the real reason for a murder.

There were traces of blood and shoe prints throughout the home, but no DNA evidence left by the killer. All right. So you've got some stuff to work with, right? Blood is that the victim's blood, the assailant's blood, maybe both and shoe prints. But if you don't have someone you're looking at. looking at. Shoeprints aren't going to help you a whole lot. No, they're not. Investigators soon received a key piece of evidence from an unlikely source. Around 1.30 a.m.

on the night of December 6th, neighbor Rob Leaf, who lived just a few blocks from Kathy, was out for a late night walk. Leif told 48 hours he was testing out a new thermal scope and was trying to get video of some deer in their neighborhood. His scope picked up. a heat signature, but it wasn't a deer. And I don't know how many people have seen these thermal kind of imaging scopes, maybe in video games, maybe in the movies. They are unbelievable. Right. In what they can show you that you can't see with the naked eye. I know they're used a lot in hog hunting, I believe. Yeah. I've seen some of that in hunting shows on TV. obviously the military uses them.

Oh, absolutely. I had one of my truck at nighttime so I can dry with my lights off. Which is very smart. Yeah. I've always said that. You know, a lot of times we're talking about the helicopter that's up, you know, trying to track the fugitive and it will have thermal imaging. Sure, yeah.

And can see somebody kind of lying down in the grass that maybe nobody else could see. they might walk right by this person. And this is kind of along those same lines. You know, the more expensive drones have those on them as well. Oh, I did not know that. Yeah.

I'm talking military-grade drones. Well, you know, these thermal scopes are fairly expensive, I believe. I don't own one, but the ones I've seen online and stuff, they're pricey. Yeah. But here's the other thing,

you know, if you're out testing this scope. Now, I'm assuming he just had the scope. It wasn't mounted to a gun and he's just walking around the neighborhood because if so, he's pointing this gun at something that is not a deer. Probably wouldn't go over so well. No, probably not. Leaves said he saw headlights approaching and a car parked on his street. He continued recording with a scope and zoomed in. He captured someone getting out of the vehicle, walking down the sidewalk, and turning down Kathy's street. So apparently this scope had some type of recording capability as well. And you and I have talked about a number of different ways that crimes have been solved by

technology. I think this kind of personal thermal scope is a first for us, where someone actually catches who might ultimately be the case. killer through one of these thermal scopes. Yeah. Now, he didn't think much of it. And the next day, he traveled to Las Vegas for a pre-planned trip with friends. He read the news on his phone and saw an article about the murder. When he read the address, he realized there was a chance he had relevant evidence.

And how weird would that be? I think it'd be very strange. Yeah. when you believe you might have seen a killer after they had committed what we just described as a very heinous crime. And then you start thinking, well, I might be able to provide police with something that could help crack the case. There would have to be some exhilaration there.

Almost like, man, I got to get back to Austin as quick as I can. I think that's what he did so that he could. turn the video over to the police. Now, the video couldn't identify the man in the video or his license plate number, but they did determine that he was driving a sedan. Because let's face, anybody who has seen like pictures of thermal imaging, it's like a lot of yellows, oranges, and reds. It's not like a clear picture, like a video camera.

It's not a crystal clear image. No, it's not 4K. You know. It's not even 2K. It's not even 2K. Just nine days later, an elderly couple was murdered in another quiet Austin neighborhood. About 15 minutes from Kathy's home, Billy and Sidney Shelton were married for 64 years. Sydney was 85 years old and Billy was 83.

They had three children. They were described as kind, hardworking people with a positive, outlook on life. To be married 64 years? I think you got to be that. That's a long time to be married. Have a positive outlook on life. Well, you've got to have a positive outlook on marriage, that's for sure.

Oh, yeah. Nurse Dow Coderler was making her scheduled visit to the Shelton home on December 15, 2014. She knocked and no one answered. And then she noticed that the front door had been what she called busted open. And to me, Gibbs, you know, that's a description of like someone kicking in a door. Right. Where the police using one of their battering rams or whatever that thing's called to, you know,

bust the door open. A door buster. Or door buster, which is very different than a dust buster. Yeah, different, used for different reasons. You used a dust buster afterwards to clean up the mess. She said the bedroom had been ransacked. She saw a city. Sidney's body on the bed and immediately ran out of the house.

And I think that's probably the first thought on most people's minds when they walk into a home and see a dead body. I'm getting the heck out of here for a couple of different reasons. First of all, you got to find what you might consider a safe space. You don't know if someone's still in there. It's true. And you know you have to call the authorities, but do you want to do it from inside the home when you don't really know what's going on and I would say for me probably not I'm going to call

the authorities but I'm going to get out of this house and maybe back up a little bit so I can see what's going on. Sydney's body was visible on the bed but Billy was covered by a blanket. It was a gruesome crime scene. The couple had been beaten and stabbed the death. A knife was found embedded in Billy's eye. This is an 83-year-old woman. Yeah. And somebody felt the need to stab her directly in her eye. Sick-oh.

Sidney's cause of death was determined to be homicide by strangulation and blunt force injuries. Billy died of sharp and blunt force injuries and strangulation. Investigators found a shoe print in the carpet near a gas bedroom door. similar to the Kathy Blair case, the jewelry box drawers had been removed, emptied, and left on the floor. So because of these similarities,

investigators became worried. They were dealing with a serial killer. They tried to keep this information private to avoid causing fear. Because, you know, it's going to be on the news, right? Sure it is. There's multiple murders. But there's murders on the news every day.

Unfortunately. I'm not making law. light of it. But when they come on the news and say, we believe we have a potential serial killer in your area, okay, now people's ears start to perk up. Yeah, because it's different odds now. Well, I think when, you know, you're watching the news or even if it's on in the background and you see a report about someone being murdered, but you don't know the circumstances. You don't know who they are. It doesn't,

I don't want to say it doesn't mean anything to you because every life is precious, but you don't have a direct connection with it. Right. And you might make the assumption that, well, they were into drugs or they were at the, the wrong place at the wrong time or they were targeted by someone they knew. Yeah.

When you start talking serial killer, then it becomes, well, that could be me. Yeah. Because the serial killer may not be described. or may not be choosing their targets based on anything but randomness. And that's very, very scared. Or even worse, you could say, I match the description of the others.

So that puts me at the top of the list. And I don't like that. Yeah. Obviously, when you go back to something like the Ted Bundy case, you know, when it was learned that he was killing all of these women, with kind of, you know, straight, dark hair, women started going out and changing up their hair. They were cutting it. They were dying it.

They were doing anything they could not to look like. Yeah. His pervert victim type. Sure. Yeah. Authorities determined that Kathy Blair had no connection to the Shelton's and none of the victims had any known enemies. I think everybody knows.

We've probably even talked about it. Most people are killed by someone they know. That's just a fact. The statistics, you know, prove it out. It doesn't mean that there are not serial killers or they're not stranger murders because there are. But I think it's the reason why police start with people closest to the victims because by and large, that's who normally commits most murders. Someone known to the victim. Yeah, it's been proven.

So why wouldn't you want to work that angle? Investigators needed to figure out if there was a possible link between the murders. A potential suspect was identified. Almost three weeks after Kathy was murdered, Kathy's landlord told the police. He hired 49-year-old Timothy Parlor and his brother in May 2014 to do some landscaping on the property. and Kathy complained about his work. Parlin was fired. A friend reported that Parlin was weird and rude, according to 48 hours.

Okay. Could that be a motive for murder? You complained about me. I got fired. I'm going to get back at you. Yeah. It cost me my job. Also, a background check revealed Parlin spent decades in prison for burglary, specifically

jewelry theft. And we know that was what was stolen at the two homes jewelry. So they had to be very suspicious of this guy. Detectives, Carrie Scanlon and Derek Israel approached Tim Parlin and told him they were trying to solve the murder of Kathy Blair. Parlin asked how Kathy died. To them, it seemed like this guy was trying to figure out what they already knew. And that wouldn't be all that strange. for, you know, some people, especially guilty people, to kind of ask questions of the police to find out what they know, are they zeroing in on a suspect?

What details do they have? I mean, you want to gauge it. They could want to gauge it. Hmm. Yeah. I'm glad you changed it up that way. Yeah. At this time, Parlin and his wife were living at an extended stay hotel called the in-town Suites.

he didn't allow the detective to search his room and claimed his wife was sleeping inside. The detectives returned on December 30th, 2014. Parlin's wife was home alone and allowed a search of the room. She informed them that they knew Billy and Sydney Shelton from their church. According to Parlin v. State, Parlin's brother was a deacon at the church, and it had also done some handiwork for the Shelton's. at times assisted by Tim. Parlin had also lived with his brother at one point who lived on the same street as the

Shelton's. Okay. It's a pretty good connection here to this Tim Parling guy. Yeah, he got him in and around the area. He knows the victims. Like you said, he's in the area. We already heard that he spent a lengthy amount of time in prison for jewelry. theft, the police have to be salivating over this guy.

Yeah, I think they're pretty happy that they have a decent lead. Inside the hotel room, detectives found a pawn receipt for a jewelry pendant one of the pieces missing from Kathy's home. The receipt was also timestant for the evening of December 6, 2014, less than 24 hours after Kathy was murdered. All right. now the detectives have to be pretty pumped. Well, he's just looking better and better, right?

As a suspect, Tim Parlin was in custody. On December 30th for driving without a license, he was questioned and denied any knowledge of the murders. He was given a citation and released from custody. So that was kind of a stroke of luck that, you know, he got taken into custody. They'd go in, they can question him, but they didn't get anything.

out of him. And it wasn't a serious crime, so he had to be released. Right. He was a strong suspect. But the only detail that didn't add up was the vehicle. Parlin drove a van. And the neighbor's infrared video showed a car. On January 1st, 2015, the police spoke to Parlin's sister Edie. Edie said Parlin gave all of their family members jewelry for Christmas. She explained that she loaned. She loaned. She loaned her Toyota Camry to her brother in November 2014 because someone stole his van. He returned the car on December 26th, 2014. And her Camry was very similar to the outline of the vehicle captured in the infrared video.

You hear that. You get kind of excited as a investigator. It just seems as though everything they find out about this guy, it's just lining up. Yeah. You know, who gives every member of their family jewelry? And I'm assuming these didn't come in boxes from, you know, sales or Macy's or some jewelry store. Hey, I got something for you. Just pick a hand, left or right.

It's just a gift bag full of jewelry. Yeah. Enjoy it. The same Camry was also captured approaching the pawn shop on December 6, 2014. Edie signed a form allowing a search and seizure of her car. A brown stain on the passenger seat and floorboard was identified as Kathy Blair's blood. So, I mean, we keep saying they're feeling better and better. I think at this point, detectives felt ready to question Parlin and try to elicit a confession.

He was arrested again on January 2nd for possession of a controlled substance and a parole violation hold. Detective Derek Israel interviewed him and questioned him about the bloodstains in the car. Israel told Parlin that they knew he killed Kathy Blair, but he insisted he didn't do it. He provided an alibi that turned out to be false. Shocker. Yeah, exactly. For a while, he refused to say who was involved, but after several hours of questioning, he finally said, okay, I'll tell you who it was, Sean, Gant, Benal Khazar. But police didn't believe him. And why would they?

He's lied. Sure. Everything that they have is pointing towards him. And all of a sudden he conveniently offers up, you know, this other guy. They thought he acted alone. But prosecutors required them to eliminate Sean as a suspect before they could charge Parlin with murder. And that makes sense, right? Because what is the first thing his defense attorney is going to do? Yeah, they're going to call out this other individual and say, reasonable doubt.

And as the police, if you didn't even check this guy out, if you didn't talk to him, if you didn't verify his alibi, that's not going to look great in court. No. Parlin remained in jail for parole violation. And detectives contacted Sean. a 30-year-old former high school science teacher who lived in Galveston, Texas. He had no criminal record. Detective Derek Israel told Sean that Parlin had implicated him in the murder, and they needed to eliminate him as a suspect. Sean seemed eager to cooperate with the investigation and agreed to meet at the Galveston Police Department on January 9th, 2015. I mean, who wouldn't say, okay, this clear me out because I definitely didn't do any of this.

You said, clear me out? Because that has a very different connotation to me than I think what you mean to say. Let's clear this up. Let's clear this up. Okay. We'll leave the clear me out for later. Yeah. Yeah.

But I agree with you. Now, if you did have something to do with it, well, then you're worried. But if you didn't, you're like, hey, yeah, let's just go ahead and get this over with so I can be eliminated and you can move on. But I just wonder when the detective says, we just need to eliminate you as a suspect. I almost took that to mean, we don't believe it's you. We believe that Parlin acted alone, but we have to do this, right?

We have to eliminate you as a suspect. But we're not really looking all that hard. No. But Sean's interview lasted five hours. He claimed he barely knew Tim Parlin. They met a few months earlier because his sister was dating Parlin's nephew. Sean admitted he'd been to Austin a few times over the past month during the weekends of both murders. And he said he stayed with Tim during those visits.

But I hardly know him. But I stayed with him. Yeah. barely knowing someone, I guess, is a matter of degrees. What does barely mean? You met for one time for 30 minutes? Right. Or you've known this person for six months and you've stayed at their house 13 times.

Yeah. It's a little different. It's a little subjective, though. Also, Sean said in his interview, the thing is, honestly, I want to help you guys out. Because this guy, Wolf in Sheep's Clubs. clothing basically. He didn't tell me anything about his past. And I'm starting to feel like he set me up like a patsy or something. Yeah. I don't know when that started. It should have began when the police said, hey, this guy implicated you in these murders. But I said this was a five hour interview. And as the

hours passed, Sean revealed more information. He admitted he was in the passenger seat when Parlin went into Kathy Blair's home. He was asked how blood got onto the passenger seat and he said Parlin returned to the car with a bloody pillowcase and threw it onto the passenger side floorboard. Sean looked in it and saw jewelry but he didn't want anything to do with it. Okay, that does not explain how blood got on to the passenger seat. Maybe in the act of him throwing the pillowcase it hit, I don't know. If you're sitting in the seat, how is it getting behind you as he's throwing it onto the floorboard? I was having a hard time understanding that. Yeah.

Also, you know, as he's talking about this, yeah, bloody pillowcase, I looked in it. I saw jewelry. I didn't want anything to do with it. But did you question Tim about this? Hey, what's this bloody suitcase? First of all, why is it bloody? And what's all this jewelry? Sean asked to use the restroom about four hours into the interview.

Detective Kerry Scalant noticed that his walk was similar to the man in the infrared video. And I'm getting a real like bigfoot vibe here. Yeah. You know, you ever see some of the fake Bigfoot videos or reportedly fake? Yeah. Bigfoot videos. I'm using my air quotes now. You know, you got a certain walk.

Yeah, kind of stiff-lating. In each one, you know. Now, we don't know how the real Bigfoot would walk, so we don't know how to compare. Yeah, that shows you on the video how he walks. But it's just so interesting when you go back to this kind of thermal infrared video thing, you can't see the person's face. But obviously you can see the movements.

And this detective is really. picking up on something. The detectives continued asking Sean if he went into Kathy Blair's house. He finally admitted. I was scared and, you know, he, he was taking a threatening tone. He told me to go in the house and get the stuff. So we just got done, you know, kind of doing our Patreon episode. Yeah.

That dropped on Saturday. And we went through this where, you know, you had a number of suspects. who just kept changing their story every time the police confronted them with a certain piece of information. Okay, well, wait a minute, I got something for that. Let me change my story so that it now fits with what you're telling me. Oh, you mean, on that day, this happened? Oh, yeah, that's the day I actually did that.

I was thinking it was a day before. I just got my days mixed up. Sean confessed that he went into the house and stole jewelry, he entered through an unlocked back door. He said, I looked around and kind of prowled and stuck in quietly. I turned on a couple of lights and rooms where I didn't see her. I found the room where she was, and she was fast asleep. That was the room her jewelry box was in. And so I opened the jewelry box, took the stuff out, put it in the thing,

maybe he went back. I don't know, but I didn't kill her. And this is the other thing that you kind of often see is, okay, how much of the truth can I tell to make it seem believable while still leaving out the parts that really make me look guilty? Yeah. Because I think that's a big part.

Sure it is. Of what people tried to do. I mean, they're definitely going to try to control the narrative. But as you can imagine, right, the detectives continued pushing Sean. And I want to play a video from part of the interview because I think it's probably the most important part. She woke up, she lunged at me, grabbed the knife, started trying to wrestle it out of my hand. And then it was a struggle. And I stab her in the neck.

I didn't even want to do it. I was just, it was, I was trying to get the jewelry without doing it. Okay. So, yeah, we've changed quite a bit, right? Sean has from his original statement to his change statement. Now he's confessing to killing. Yeah. Kathy.

But I thought it was so strange where he said, you know, I really didn't want to do it. I was trying to get the jewelry without killing her, but I ended up stabbing her in the neck. Because that damn jewelry was more important than somebody's life. And he claimed that after the murder, he gave all the jewelry to Parlin because he didn't want to keep it. So he didn't want to kill, but he wanted the jewelry,

but then he didn't want to keep the jewelry. Yeah, I mean, unless he just felt so guilty for what he did, he just wanted to get rid of it. The next goal of the interview was figuring out what Sean knew about the murders of Sydney and Billy Shelton. Sean claimed he didn't know anything and the interview ended. Tim Parlin was questioned again on January 16th and was told about Sean's confession. Parlin agreed to go for a drive to show the police where Sean allegedly disposed of property

after the murder and to take a detective to the scene of a prior burglar. During the drive, he made statements implicating himself as an accomplice to the burglaries and the murder. Well, and how can he not? I mean, if you're taking police to show them where the spoils of your burglaries and the murder were disposed of, well, how do you know that information? You have to be implicating yourself somehow. Absolutely.

According to Parlin v. State, Parlin took the police to a bridge over a creek and described how Sean put clothing, shoes, and other bloodstained items into a grocery bag for disposal. He tried to ask Sean about what he did. Sean allegedly said he put the knife to their face or in their face, then went back to put his foot in her feet. phase. Parlin denied being present during Kathy's murder, but recalled that Sean told him he kicked

him using the bottom of his foot. He didn't identify the man Sean said he kicked. Parlin said Sean chose to kill Kathy because he felt he was not treated fairly on the landscaping job and wanted to get back at her landlord. This I'm going to get back at the landlord. I'm going to kill the people that rent. Take the life of an innocent person or innocent individuals. That'll really show the landlord. Exactly. Makes a lot of sense.

Parlin took the police to the spot where he claimed he dropped Sean off for the Shelton murders, but maintained these hands didn't kill anyone. So I know everything there is to know about these burglaries, the murders. I just didn't kill anyone myself. Right. But the whole time, again, he's implicating himself. He's giving so much away that he was a part of it.

Detective Derek Israel told 48 hours, Sean murdered the Shelton's. Tim Parlin was a party to that murder. He planned it. He facilitated it. He profited from it. He assisted in it. After the arrests were announced, authorities said Sean killed Kathy Blair while trying to steal her jewelry.

Parlin's role was still under investigation. In late January 2015, the Austin police revealed that the men were linked to the Shelton murders. However, there was no forensic evidence linking Sean to the Shelton murders so he could still deny killing the couple. Prosecutors chose to charge Sean with only the murder of. of Kathy Blair because they had a confession. He was indicted for capital murder on March 26, 2015. And I think the confession, yeah, it's pretty strong. I think so too.

I think anytime you hear the suspect or the person on trial, say in their own words, this is what I did. This is how I killed the victim. Right. That is powerful stuff. But now he hasn't admitted to killing the shelter. He has to confess to it. They really don't have much on him.

Other than the word of Tim Parlin, that's going to be tough to prosecute because that guy already has demonstrated that his credibility is shit. Yeah, he's not honorable. No. And he was a part of it. Tim Parlin was indicted for all three murders.

On June 2nd, 2015, his charges included three counts of capital, murder in commission of burglary, one count of serial capital murder, and one count of multiple capital murders. He was also indicted for a burglary that occurred on November 30th, 2014. It's kind of interesting, right? The police believe that it's Sean Gant Banalcazar, who actually murdered Kathy and the Shelton's. But yet, Tim Parlin gets charged with a lot more than Sean does. He does.

But he also admitted to being involved in all of it. And that probably plays a very large role in it. Yeah, where Sean only has admitted to being involved in Kathy's murder. Sean's murder trial started on April 2nd, 2018. Took a while. You know, we talk about that all the time. You know, and this was actually pre-COVID, so you can't blame it on that. It's just sometimes the wheels of.

justice, they take a while. And there's so many motions and there's time for discovery. There's delays. There's this and that. It seems like a couple of years is now kind of like the standard before someone goes on trial for murder. Yeah. The jury heard about all the evidence found at the scene, including a bloody

shoe print that was the same brand in size worn by Sean. Kathy's cause of death was revealed at trial. Travis County Medical Examiner Dr. Leisha Wood concluded she died from multiple sharp wounds and asphyxiation. Neighbor Rob Leaf testified about the video. He recorded on the night of the murder and Kathy's son testified about finding his mother's body. And there is some video of Kathy's son on the witness stand. it's tough stuff. Yeah, it really is.

You know, he's older by the time that, you know, this trial takes place, but still just him describing finding his mother. It's, uh, it's, it's, it's tear jerking stuff. No doubt about it. The prosecution's case was primarily based on Sean's confession, which was presented to the jury. The defense argued the confession was coerced and that Sean was. was threatened by detectives in the hallway when he asked for a bathroom break, which was not recorded.

Sean also got on the stand to discuss the alleged threats. And I have a clip of Sean on the stand that I want to play and then we'll talk about that. I felt like I had to confess to this crime that I didn't commit. and if I didn't, the question he was just going to continue, and even if I just stopped saying anything, I had been led to believe that they would, quote, unquote, prove that I had done it regardless of what I said. All right.

Sean, did you go into Kathy Blair, Tom? No, I did not. Have you ever gone to her home? No, I have not. Did you kill that anywhere? No, I did not. He also testified per 48 hours, their exact words were,

this is important and we're not you're not going anywhere until we finish that if I didn't explain a reason for having done it even though I didn't do it I would get the death pill. Right. So he's talking about these threats, but you heard him in the clip. He's asked by his one of his defense attorneys, you know, were you there? No. Have you ever been there? No. Did you kill Kathy Blair? No. which is obviously far different than what he said in the video, of course. Sean insisted that Tim Parley killed Kathy Blair. According to KVUE, Sean testified, he said that I guess he had hit something.

Approaching the bed, he hit something with his foot and caused her to wake up. He said that there was a struggle over the night and that he stabbed her neck and that she had kicked him and he grabbed her by the legs and pulled her off the bed. Parlin allegedly told him, you're not going to say anything about it because I used your knife. So if you say something about it, that's going to get to the cops. So there's two things for me here. One is that could Sean be testified that what Parlin said happened was actually what happened to Sean while he was in that house, right? Did he kick the bet? Did he wait Kathy up? He's just phrasing it

as though, you know, Parlin told him this. Right. And then the second thing is him saying that Tim used his knife. Okay. I know your number one rule is you never loan anyone one of your nine. Never, ever. Not even my butter knife. After 19 hours of deliberation, the judge declared a mistrial on April 12, 2018. Tim Parlin was scheduled to go to trial next for the murders of Kathy Blair and Billy and Sidney Shelton.

His trial began on May 15, 2018. Prosecutors argued that Parlin conspired to commit the burglaries and murders and had connections to all three victims. As mentioned, he knew Kathy Blair because he did landscaping at her home, and he knew the Shelton's because they attended the same church. And his wife had done in-home massages for Billy Shelton per KX-A-N. So he did have, apparently, you know, quite a bit of connections to all three of the victims. Prosecutors argued that per Texas law, the jury could convict him of capital murder, even if he didn't go in that,

house because he participated in the crime. Investigators still believed Sean was the killer, but they didn't have enough evidence against him in the Shelton case. Tim Parlin admitted that he drove Sean to both homes, but his defense argued there was no evidence. He entered either home. Sean acted alone. But to me, Gibbs, it's not great when you admit that you even drove the person to the

murder scene and that you knew. Now, if you're saying, well, I just gave him a ride, I didn't know about it, but it seems like he had admitted to way more than that. He sure did. In closing arguments, the prosecution called Parlin the mastermind behind the murders. Tim Parlin was found guilty on May 25, 2018, and received a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Wow. Didn't mess around, did it? No. And I'm sure he was not happy because, you know, the guy who he believed and even prosecutors believed killed all three of these people still has yet to be convicted. But Sean's retrial started on October 24, 2018.

The defense argued that Parlin deliberately developed a relationship with Sean with the goal of getting him to conspire with him. They conceded Parlin convinced Sean. to commit a burglary, but it was not the burglary of Kathy Blair's home. The prosecution's evidence was similar to the first trial and included Sean's recorded confession. Once again, the prosecution argued that Parlin was the mastermind and Sean was the sick and twisted person. He chose to carry out the attack against Kathy Blair. The defense argued the confession was coerced. The prosecution counseled, the prosecution

encountered that Sean spoke about details only the killer would know, including the fact that Kathy was killed with a knife and had multiple stab wounds to the neck. Which is a strong point. Yeah, I would say it is. But let's just say for a minute that the confession was coerced. I don't believe it was in this case. But let's say it was. Then part of that, to me, would be the police feeding.

the person, details of the crime that only they knew. That makes their confession even more believable. And I'm sure the defense argued part of that as well. On November 2nd, 2018, Sean was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. So they essentially got the same sentences. I think the difference was Sean was never convicted. of anything having to do with the murder of the Shelton's.

They didn't have, they just didn't have the evidence. They couldn't lock him down on that. But they were sure that he not only killed Kathy Blair, he killed the Shelton's as well. Both Tim and Sean appealed their sentences. 48 hours spoke to Sean in a video call. He maintained that his confession was coerced and Tim killed Kathy Blair. He said, when I went to go see him at 4 a.m. Um, he said, well, we're going to go get breakfast and, uh, drove me out to the place and then said that he had killed her and told me about it.

Sean was asked how he could have known the movements of the killer and explained anything that I said was something that either, uh, you know, Tim told me or I just made up. Made some of it up. It just happened to be the right details. Sometimes people get things right. Tim Parlin also spoke to 48 hours. and claimed to have no knowledge of Kathy's murder. He claimed that Sean was silent and stone cold when he returned to the car that night. He was told he'd been described as a master manipulator, but said he had a low IQ and a big heart.

And there's not many times that people want to admit they have a low IQ, but this is one where it could potentially help you. Yeah, that's true. So, you know, you might want to play into it. Hey, I'm just letting you know I am not that bright. I mean, I'd be like, hey, I know people think I'm Menza, but my IQ is only 142. There's no way I could have pulled all this off. Exactly.

Tim Parlin's conviction was affirmed. On November 22nd, 2019, Sean's appeal was denied on November 13th, 2020. So Gibbs, as we wrap this one up, it is somewhat of, of a strange case in that you have two people who I don't think there's any doubt were working together in some capacity. Now, exactly what that capacity was is a little hard to pin down. Sure it is. No doubt authorities believe Sean was the killer. There are still questions as to why a man with no previous criminal record would commit three murder. in such a short time span.

And we said it, right? Sean had no previous criminal record. Tim, on the other hand, he had a whole laundry list of charges that he had racked up over the years. Does it absolutely mean that someone, you know, couldn't start committing crimes, even committing murders? I would say the answer is no, right? Everybody has to start somewhere.

Could you also say, is it possible? someone has been committing crimes, just never got caught and has no record. Yeah, I think that's entirely possible. It is true that most of the time, you know, when we're talking about these types of killers, they have a long rap sheet, right? There's evidence of them doing things as kids, as young adults, but I think it is possible that someone was maybe doing it, but just good at getting away with it. And so they actually didn't have a record. The problem, I think, as it relates to Sean Gant,

Benal Khazar is that, you know, all the different sources that we use for this episode, in them there just wasn't much on his background. Like you would find with, you know, a big time serial killer. So, you know, what was the guy's motive? Was it all about getting his hands on jewelry and him just kind of killing in the process? Or did he enjoy killing as most serial killers do?

I don't know the answer to that question. Yeah. You know, you could make the argument that you go into rob a place. You encounter resistance and then a murder takes place. or that a person goes in to kill, they're going to do that regardless. Sure, they are. While they're at it,

they're going to help themselves to jewelry and whatever else they can find. Yeah. While I'm in here, let me grab some of this bounty. You've already committed the greatest sin. You have. So what's stealing after that?

Yeah. Stealing is kind of an afterthought almost. But I don't really know what the truth is. obviously the jury thought there was enough evidence against both of these guys in the murder of of kathy blair and in the case of tim he opened his mouth so much i think in trying to blame sean sure yeah that he he kind of condemned himself as it related to the sheltons he might have been better off just not saying anything and most people are yeah I mean, that's something you've made abundantly clear many, many times.

Absolutely. But that's it for our episode on Sean Gant, Benal Khazar. We've got some voicemails, Gibbs. You want to check those out? Let's hear him. Hey, Mike and Givie. This is Aaron from South Louisiana. A big fan of y'all show.

If y'all ever do a show in South Louisiana, you can't pronounce any of the last names. Give me a call or a ring. I could help you pronounce them. Also, there's two cases that I think you guys are covered. find very interesting. One is Ronald Dominique, known as the Bayou Strangler. He operated in South Louisiana. He's actually in our hometown for over 10 years. They could never catch the guy because whenever he'd kill him, he'd dump them in the swamps and the South Louisiana weather would make the bodies decompose very fast so they can never really find them. Another case,

I think you guys should cover is the Red Ripper, Andre Chiquotillo. He operated in Soviet Russia, and he killed over 40 people. Two really interesting cases. But hopefully hope y'all play on You'll have a good one. Happy New Year. All right. So two big names there. Sure. Ronald Dominique, you and I were going to do very early on. And I mean, in like year one.

But I think we ran into a series of Louisiana cases. We did. Like both TCAT and Unolved. And I kind of said, hey, we got to lay off Louisiana for a little bit. And then we just never came back around to him. So we need to bump him up the list. Chickatillo is fascinating, but there's so many details and he killed so many people. I don't know how many episodes it would take to tell that story correctly.

But they're both on the list, no doubt. We're doing. The Ohio State, baby. The Ohio State, baby, 2020, 2024 national champs. Oh, that was Brad Schaffin, by the way from Columbus. How about them Buckeyes, baby? I love you, Mike and Gibby. You're all my dudes, man.

You're all my dudes. Keep your own time kicking. All right. Well, obviously, I had to play that. Of course. Love you too. Yeah. And it was a big week.

And that Buckeyes win was huge. It was gigantic. And we take a lot of pride in our sports teams. When I say us, I just mean everyone. Yeah. So when your team wins it all, it's such a big deal. It is a big deal.

But the thing about sports is there's only one team left at the end of the long, grueling season. Right. So pretty much everyone else is unhappy. And one team's fans are related. And that's pretty much what sports is. We get bragging rights for a little bit. For a little bit. But it was cool.

It was cool to watch. Love it. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode. of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.