A military judge sentenced Army soldier Dwight Loving, 20, to death for the murders of two Killeen, Texas cab drivers and the attempted murder of a third. Loving was found guilty April 3, 1989 of two counts of felony murder in the deaths of Army Private Christopher Fay, 20, a 13th Corps Support Command soldier and part-time Killeen cab driver, and retired Master Sgt. Bobby Sharbino, 44. The two men were found dead in their taxis on December 12 and December 13, 1988, both victims of gunshot wounds. Howard Harrison, 28, another cab driver, was injured when he struggled with Loving in his cab. Harrison managed to escape after knocking the gun from Lovings hand. The court also found Loving guilty of robbing two 7-Eleven convenience stores on December 11, 1988. In 2016, Dwight Loving was one of six service members on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas; he was joined by Andrew Witt, Ronald Gray, Timothy Hennis, Hasan Akbar, and Nidal Hasan. In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted Dwight Loving’s death sentence before he left Office. Loving was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to the terms of the commutation agreement, Loving will be unable to appeal his conviction and is ineligible in any way for release in the future. Andrew Witt was granted a new sentencing trial on appeal, and in July 2018, the military courts re-sentenced Witt from the death penalty to life in prison without parole.
Kathleen Lipscomb and MSgt William Lipscomb, U.S. Air Force (Photo: Forensic Files)
Air Force spouse Kathleen Lipscomb, 30, was found dead on the side of a highway in San Antonio, Texas on June 9, 1986. She was murdered and the case went unsolved for years. Kathleen was a nurse and she had two children with her husband William ‘Bill’ Lipscomb. Bill, 33, was a MSgt in the Air Force and was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base. They were married for eight years but had recently separated. Their arrangement was for Bill to spend time with the two children on the weekends. But one Sunday night, Kathleen never showed up to pick up the children. Bill went to Kathleen’s apartment but she wasn’t there. The next morning there was no sign of her. One of her co-workers contacted a family member because she didn’t show up to work and they were worried. Later that day, Kathleen Lipscomb was discovered nude and dead on the side of the highway. Based on the evidence, police deduced she had been murdered elsewhere.
Bill Lipscomb was immediately called in for questioning. The police wanted to check for any wounds that might be on his body. The children told police their father was with them the entire weekend and confirmed his alibi. An autopsy revealed Kathleen had sex 24 hours before she was found dead. During the investigation, detectives learned Kathleen was dating a married man. His name was Dr. David Pearl and Kathleen was in love with him. Dr. Pearl admitted he was with Kathleen over the weekend but insisted he had nothing to do with her murder. One week after Kathleen’s murder, her car was found in a restaurant parking lot not far from her apartment. Investigators found no useful forensic evidence in the car. Based on the food contents in her stomach, investigators determined she was most likely murdered on Sunday night and dumped in the field during the early morning hours on Monday.
For two years, investigators searched for Kathleen’s killer. Kathleen’s family suspected her estranged husband Bill had something to do with her murder. Seven months before the murder, Bill had increased Kathy’s life insurance to $300,000. Kathleen’s family hired a private investigator to look into the case. The PI learned of the name Shannon Gilbert from Kathleen’s day planner. She was in the Air Force with Bill and it was rumored she was having an affair with him. Shannon Gilbert would not speak with the PI without an attorney present. The PI also found a note about WAPS (Weighted Airman Promotion System) testing and it said Bill had all the answers to the test. Kathleen was accusing Bill of cheating. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) joined the investigation because it involved allegations of cheating. Dr. Charles McDowell believed the scene had been staged to look like a rape and murder.
McDowell also suspected someone else dumped the body. Kathleen’s daughter revealed another important piece of information to the family. She told family members she thought her father killed her mom because he wasn’t home the entire weekend. One of his friends Anthony ‘Tony’ Barello took them out for dinner on Sunday and when they woke up in the middle of the night, they realized their father was gone. Investigators ordered forensic DNA testing but the biological evidence had been mislabeled then mishandled. Forensic testing was not possible. Investigators needed more than circumstantial evidence to corroborate the children’s story. During the investigation, detectives learned Bill cheated on the military promotion testing and Kathleen knew it. During the divorce proceedings, Bill wanted custody of the children and Kathleen was not going to let that happen. Was Kathleen using this information as blackmail during the custody battle?
At the crime scene, Kathleen’s clothing was neatly rolled which suggested someone with military training dumped the body. When investigators caught up with Tony Barello, he was eager to talk. Tony immediately acknowledged he dumped Kathleen’s body in the field. He told them Bill Lipscomb was the killer. Tony still had evidence directly linking Bill to the crime and investigators confirmed it was Kathleen’s blood in a small chest she was stored in after she was murdered. OSI took over the homicide investigation. Bill’s former girlfriend also admitted that Bill told her he was going to kill his wife. OSI brought Bill Lipscomb in for questioning but Bill denied everything. They believed he sought revenge for Kathleen’s threats to expose him for the military promotion scandal. They believed Bill asked his friend Tony to take the children out for dinner so he could kill Kathleen while they were out.
When Kathleen arrived and noticed the children missing, the two most likely argued. At some point, Bill strangled Kathleen and then stored her in a chest in the house. Once the children were asleep, Tony retrieved Kathleen’s body and dumped her on the side of the highway to stage it as a sex crime. MSgt Bill Lipscomb was charged with the rape and murder of Kathleen Lipscomb in July 1989. Bill Lipscomb pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and in 1990 a Langley Air Force Base military judge sentenced Bill Lipscomb to life in prison. Although under the terms of the plea agreement, Bill Lipscomb will spend no more than 60 years at the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge. In return for their cooperation, Tony Barello and Shannon Gilbert were not charged. Shannon Gilbert changed her name and is now in the federal witness protection program.
“Although his wife was not killed on government property or in Virginia, the Air Force tried Lipscomb here under a law that gives the military authority to handle any criminal transgressions by an active-duty serviceman.” –Daily Press (August 22, 1990)
Full episode: Kathleen Lipscomb’s body was found on a deserted street outside of San Antonio. Months passed, then years, and the crime went cold. Then Kathleen’s family hired a private investigator who discovered a diary among her personal effects. Two of the diary entries helped police to piece together what had happened to Kathleen Lipscomb, and why. -True Lies, Forensic Files (S8,E27)
Investigation Discovery:
Preview: When a wife begins an affair behind her domineering husband’s back with a coworker, he soon finds out and begins an affair of his own. Little do they realize that the relationships they have entered into are not what they seem. -Sex, Secrets & Sergeants, Scorned: Love Kills (S5,E5)
While Kathy Lipscomb spends late nights at the hospital with the handsome Dr. Pearle, her husband’s career in the Air Force is taking off, but so is his relationship with a hot young officer. When the affairs are exposed the consequences are fatal. -Sex, Secrets & Sergeants, Scorned: Love Kills (S5,E5)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Cassandra Goodwin, 22, Henrietta, Texas (never admitted to homicide)
On June 13, 1980, 11-year-old Doris Oehring went missing from North Pole, Alaska; they found her bike in the ditch. Luckily, a witness saw a blue vehicle near the area where the bicycle was found and helped the police create a composite sketch; but no leads were generated. To make matters worse, this was the second known abduction in less than a year. Eight months earlier, on August 29, 1979, a boy hunting in the woods found the decomposing body of 19-year-old Glinda Sodemann; she had been strangled and shot. Nine months after Doris Oehring mysteriously went missing; 16-year-old Wendy Wilson disappeared; her friend last saw her talking to a man in a white truck. Wendy’s body was found three days later; she had been strangled and shot in the head as well. Police wondered if there was more than one predator. As the police scrambled to find leads, another body of a woman turned up dead near Eielson Air Force Base. The victim was identified as 21-year-old Marlene Peters; Marlene was strangled and shot in the head too.
The police were panicking because of the number of murders in one location, and then a fifth woman vanished. Troopers teamed up with military and civilian search teams to find the missing and then one day while soldiers were out hunting, they found the body of Lori King; she too was strangled and shot in the head. Unable to calculate the next move of the serial killer, state troopers tried another tactic. They staked out the killer’s dumping grounds within a 10 mile radius of Eielson AFB. And then the killings stopped. And then in November 1982, troopers received a call from Henrietta, Texas informing them a woman had been murdered in the same fashion as their suspected serial killer. Police worked with the military to see if they couldn’t narrow down the suspects based on who owned a blue car or white pick-up truck. And finally, the police came up with a name: Thomas Richard Bunday was a TSgt in the Air Force who transferred to Sheppard AFB shortly after the murder of the fifth victim in Alaska.
Alaska investigators learned Bunday owned a blue car and a white truck, and he was on the Air Force’s radar list because there were several complaints made about his inappropriate sexual remarks to women in the workplace. Alaska investigators also learned Bunday served in the military for fifteen years and was a married, father of two. On March 7, 1983, Alaska investigators talked to Bunday for three hours about everything but the murders and they did this for several days hoping he would confess; but he refused to talk. Bunday didn’t deny the crimes; but refused to confess. After a week of interrogation, the troopers obtained a search warrant to search Bunday’s property. They found a lot of incriminating evidence that directly tied him to the crime in Alaska but had to obtain an arrest warrant from Alaska. Alaska Troopers had no power to arrest outside of Alaska. The Governor offered a private leer jet to bring Bunday back to Alaska. The arrest was the next day but he failed to show up as promised.
Unfortunately, Thomas Bunday slipped past surveillance on his motorcycle. Instead of meeting with the Alaska investigators again, Bunday instead killed himself. Police learned Bunday died by suicide after he crossed the center line and slammed into a truck at a 100 mph. Police were really hoping they would get more information from him before he died. They wanted to know where Doris’ body was so they could give the family closure. In August 1986, three years after Bunday died, Doris’ skull was found in a remote section of Eielson Air Force Base. It was later learned that Bunday’s job in the Air Force most likely allowed him to view his dump sites via surveillance cameras and relive his sadistic behavior. Bunday was most likely watching investigators at the crime scene. Alaska state investigators are convinced that Thomas Richard Bunday was responsible for the five murders in Alaska. And they believe Bunday denied the murder in Texas to avoid the death penalty before opting instead to kill himself on March 15, 1983.
“From 1979 to 1981, Thomas Richard Bunday, a technical sergeant who was stationed at the Eilson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, murdered four women and an 11-year-old girl. With the help of a psychological profile provided by the FBI and a description from an eyewitness, the authorities were eventually able to close in on Bunday. By the time police identified Bunday as their prime suspect, however, he had already been transferred to another base near Wichita Falls, Texas.
When officials from Alaska traveled to Texas to interview Bunday, he admitted to the killings, but the officers didn’t have the jurisdiction to arrest him. The police from Alaska scrambled to get a warrant, and when they went to apprehend Bunday, his wife informed the officials that he had taken off on his motorcycle. Tragically, the officers learned that on March 16, 1983, just hours after they’d obtained an arrest warrant, Bunday drove his motorcycle into the path of an oncoming truck, ending his life.”
The tiny town of North Pole, Alaska is a quiet, safe haven best known for Santa Claus. But when the bodies of young women begin turning up one by one, investigators slowly piece together the clues and discover the unlikeliest of killers. -North Pole Slay Ride, Ice Cold Killers (S1,E4)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Army Major Chester Barrett was found murdered in a desert area in east El Paso, Texas on January 4, 1977. Investigators opened a murder investigation but exhausted all leads and the case went cold for over 35 years. In 2006, the case was reopened by the El Paso Police Department and new tips came in. Investigators would learn that Major Garrett’s wife Lisbeth enlisted the help of her son Roger in a plot to kill him. The pair were arrested and charged with Major Garrett’s murder. At trial, Roger confessed that he and his mother asked his step-father to come to their house to fix the dishwasher. As Major Garrett was leaning over the dishwasher, Roger struck him in the head with a baseball bat; he says his mother then stabbed him several times. Prosecutors said the motive to kill Major Garrett was to collect the money from his military survivor benefits.
Major Garrett and Lisbeth were in the midst of a divorce when the homicide occurred; Major Garrett was living in Officer’s Quarters at Fort Bliss. Lisbeth was accused of using her 18 year old child to lure Major Garrett to the marital home because she wanted to kill him. A witness testified at trial that divorcees of active duty Army officers could not get benefits but widows could get survivor benefits from the Army for the rest of their lives. Roger Garrett was convicted of murder for his part in the crime in 2013; he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Former high school teacher Lisbeth Garrett, 76, was found guilty of homicide in 2015; she was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Roger Garrett appealed his murder conviction but the case was denied by the Texas Court of Appeals.
“Maj. Chester Garrett served four tours in Vietnam and, while with the 5th Special Forces Group, earned the U.S. military’s second-highest award for valor. According to officials, Garrett was a Special Forces advisor to a Vietnamese strike force on a search and destroy mission near the Cambodian border.” –The Fayetteville Observer
