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A Little Less Mess: The Murder of Ellen Sherman [Connecticut] · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, welcome to Bless This Mess and the Dracom Podcast.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I'm Kara, just Kara. Welcome to A Little Less Mess.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: These are our Monday mini-sodes. Well, Tuesday today. Sorry guys,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I'm late. where I come to you solo and tell
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: you a story outside the South. And today we're heading
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: to Niantic, Connecticut. I think I said that right. A
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: small community along the shoreline. In August 1985, a friend
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: went to check on Ellen Sherman after her husband said
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: he couldn't reach her. What began as a visit to
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: make sure she was okay became the start of a
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  Speaker 2: murder investigation that would take years to resolve. But before
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: we get into it, let's go over our weekly schedule.
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  Speaker 2: All right, y'all, let's go ahead and get into today's episode.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: On Sunday, August 4th, 1985, Edward Sherman was away on
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: a sailing trip with friends when he contacted Barbara LaVallee,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a friend of his wife, Ellen. He said he hadn't
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  Speaker 2: been able to reach Ellen and asked Barbara to have
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: someone check on her. Barbara sent a friend named Lynn
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  Speaker 2: to the Sherman home in Niantic. The house was locked
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  Speaker 2: when Lynn arrived. Unable to get inside through a door,
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  Speaker 2: he pried open a window and climbed in. When he
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  Speaker 2: reached the master bedroom, he found Ellen dead. She was
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  Speaker 2: unclothed and underwear was wrapped around her neck. The bedroom
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  Speaker 2: door had been closed and the air conditioner was running.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: leaving the room unusually cold. Ellen was five and a
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  Speaker 2: half months pregnant. An examination determined that she had been
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  Speaker 2: strangled both manually and with a ligature. There was no
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  Speaker 2: question that investigators were dealing with a homicide. What they
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: did not yet know was when the killing had happened,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and that would become one of the biggest obstacles in
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  Speaker 2: the case. Her husband had left for his sailing trip
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: on Friday evening. If Ellen had died after he left,
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  Speaker 2: investigators would have to account for the people who could
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: place him on the boat. If she had died before
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the trip, the entire picture would change. Before we follow
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that investigation, though, let's talk about Ellen and the life
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: she had built. Ellen Vicki Goldstein was born in Brooklyn
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in 1946. She graduated from Hofstra University and worked as
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: a teacher on Long Island. People who knew her remembered
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a friendly, outgoing woman. She married Edward Sherman in 1969,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and they had a daughter named Jessica. By 1985, Ellen
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  Speaker 2: had established a business called Ad Graphics, which published a
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  Speaker 2: real estate magazine called Display of Homes. Both Ellen and
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  Speaker 2: Ed worked in the business, and Ed also taught marketing
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  Speaker 2: part-time at a community college. Ellen enjoyed mysteries and had
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: ambitions of publishing a mystery novel herself. She was raising
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  Speaker 2: her daughter, managing her work, and preparing for another baby,
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  Speaker 2: a child she had wanted for years. But their marriage
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: was troubled. Ed had been involved in a long-running relationship
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  Speaker 2: with a woman named Nancy Prescott, and he had fathered
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a child with her. Accounts of the marriage also described
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  Speaker 2: an arrangement that had allowed relationships outside it. That history
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  Speaker 2: can make the situation sound complicated, but the important point
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  Speaker 2: is what Ellen wanted by the summer of 1985. According
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  Speaker 2: to her friends, she wanted Ed to commit to their marriage,
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  Speaker 2: and she was considering divorce if he would not. Ellen's
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  Speaker 2: friends also described frustration over the business and how much
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: of the work she was carrying. The prospect of a
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  Speaker 2: divorce could affect not just the marriage, but the company
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and the couple's financial arrangements. Those accounts would eventually help
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  Speaker 2: prosecutors explain a possible motive. At the beginning, however, investigators
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  Speaker 2: still had to determine whether Ed could have been responsible
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  Speaker 2: at all. On Friday, August 2nd, Ellen and Ed had
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  Speaker 2: returned home from work at about 4 in the afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: Later that evening, Ed left for a week-long sailing trip
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  Speaker 2: with four friends. Jessica was away at camp, and Ellen
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  Speaker 2: remained at home. Those circumstances gave investigators a starting point.
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  Speaker 2: Ellen had been alive on Friday afternoon, and Ed had
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  Speaker 2: been with her before leaving. The initial medical estimate seemed
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  Speaker 2: to move her death well beyond that period. Connecticut's chief
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  Speaker 2: medical examiner, Dr. Catherine Galvin, first estimated that Ellen had
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  Speaker 2: died between 24 and 26 hours before Galvin observed her body.
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  Speaker 2: Ed had left more than 60 hours before that observation.
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  Speaker 2: Under that estimate, Ellen would have been killed while her
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  Speaker 2: husband was already away with witnesses who could account for
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  Speaker 2: his whereabouts. That was a serious problem for any theory
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  Speaker 2: involving Ed. Police could investigate his affairs and arguments with Ellen,
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  Speaker 2: but suspicion about a marriage could not overcome a timeline
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  Speaker 2: that appeared to exclude him. They needed to understand the
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  Speaker 2: physical evidence, including something that had stood out when Ellen
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: was found, the temperature in the bedrooms. Time of death
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: estimates depend on the circumstances in which a body is found.
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  Speaker 2: In this case, the air conditioner had been running in
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  Speaker 2: a closed room, and witnesses described the bedroom as exceptionally cold.
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  Speaker 2: After learning more about those conditions, Galvin reconsidered her estimate.
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  Speaker 2: She concluded that Ellen could have died between 48 and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: 96 hours before her observation. That broader window included Friday
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  Speaker 2: before Ed left for his trip. It was an important change,
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  Speaker 2: but it was not an exact answer. The examiner had
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  Speaker 2: not identified a precise hour when Ellen died. What changed
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  Speaker 2: was that Ed could no longer be ruled out simply
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: because he was on a boat during the original estimated window.
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  Speaker 2: Investigators came to believe the cold room had been deliberate.
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  Speaker 2: Their theory was that Ellen had been killed before Ed
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  Speaker 2: left and that the air conditioner had been used to
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  Speaker 2: slow the changes in her body. If her death appeared
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  Speaker 2: more recent... than it really was, it would seem to
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  Speaker 2: have occurred while he was away. The defense would dispute
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  Speaker 2: the cooling evidence, including whether the air conditioner could have
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  Speaker 2: produced the effect the prosecution described. Another detail drew attention
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  Speaker 2: as police examined the theory. Shortly before Ellen's death, a
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  Speaker 2: television movie called Blackout had aired. Reporting on the case
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  Speaker 2: described similarities between a plot element involving cold conditions and
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  Speaker 2: the method investigators believe had been used in Ellen's bedrooms.
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  Speaker 2: A witness also recalled discussing the movie with Ed. That
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  Speaker 2: became a memorable part of the case, but it needs
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  Speaker 2: to stay in its proper place. A movie could not
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  Speaker 2: prove that Ed had murdered his wife. It mattered because
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: investigators were considering whether the temperature had been manipulated intentionally
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and whether he had encountered that ideal beforehand. They still
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: needed evidence about what he actually had done. For years,
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  Speaker 2: the investigation did not produce a conviction. An investigative grand
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: jury was convened in 1987, but its findings were inconclusive.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Police had a suspicious set of circumstances and a disputed timeline,
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  Speaker 2: while Ellen's family and friends were left waiting for an answer.
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  Speaker 2: There was also another piece of Ed's alibi that appeared
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  Speaker 2: to support him. Before the sailing trip, he had stopped
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: at the home of his friend, Henry McDuff. While there,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: he used the telephone to call Ellen. People nearby heard
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: him speaking as though she had answered. They heard what
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: sounded like an ordinary conversation between a husband and a wife,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: including him telling her that he loved her. To those witnesses,
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  Speaker 2: it seemed to establish that Ellen was still alive shortly
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  Speaker 2: before Ed left. That would fit his account that she
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: had remained home while he went sailing. But the witnesses
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  Speaker 2: had heard only Ed's side of the call. They had
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  Speaker 2: not heard Ellen's voice. They assumed she was there because
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: of the way he was speaking. Years later, someone who
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: had heard something different would challenge that assumption. Henry's daughter,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Kristen McDuff, had been a child when Ellen was killed.
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  Speaker 2: On the evening Ed used the phone, she had picked
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  Speaker 2: up an extension in another part of the house because
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  Speaker 2: she wanted to make a call herself. She could hear
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  Speaker 2: the telephone line, not just Ed talking in the room. Luann,
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  Speaker 2: who would later marry Henry, described the family conversation in
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  Speaker 2: which Kristen's recollection came forward. Henry said he did not
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  Speaker 2: believe Ed could have killed Ellen because Ed had called
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  Speaker 2: her from his kitchen before leaving on the trip. And
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Kristen's recall of that night completely contradicted what Ed said
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  Speaker 2: because she heard him talking but the phone was still ringing.
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  Speaker 2: No one ever picked up on the other end. So
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  Speaker 2: that changed the significance of the call. It was no
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  Speaker 2: longer simply something Ed had offered as part of his account.
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  Speaker 2: It could be evidence that he had created a false
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  Speaker 2: impression for the people around him. The adults heard him talking,
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  Speaker 2: but a child did not. Kristen's recollection was not a recording,
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  Speaker 2: and it had emerged years after the event. Its reliability
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: was something the defense could challenge and a jury would
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: have to evaluate. But contemporary reporting described her testimony as
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: critical to the prosecution's case. The different pieces now fit
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: together more closely. The revised medical estimate allowed for Ellen
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  Speaker 2: to have died before the sailing trip. The condition of
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  Speaker 2: the bedroom supported the prosecution's theory that someone had tried
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  Speaker 2: to disguise the timing. and Kristen's account undermined the telephone
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: call that appeared to show Ellen was alive when Ed left.
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  Speaker 2: Ed was arrested in March 1990, nearly five years after
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  Speaker 2: Ellen's body was discovered. At trial, prosecutors argued that he
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: had killed Ellen at home, left the bedroom cold to
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  Speaker 2: interfere with time of death estimate, and staged the call
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  Speaker 2: at Henry McDuff's house before leaving with his friends. They
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  Speaker 2: presented the evidence of the troubled marriage and Ellen's possible
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: plans for divorce in as part of their explanation for
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: why he would have done it. The defense challenged the
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  Speaker 2: medical timeline and the air conditioning evidence. Ed testified and
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  Speaker 2: denied killing Ellen. It was the jury's responsibility to decide
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  Speaker 2: whether the prosecution had proved murder, not simply whether he
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  Speaker 2: had behaved badly in his marriage. In 1992, the jury
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  Speaker 2: found Edward Sherman guilty of murder. He received a sentence
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: of 50 years in prison. He appealed, challenging several aspects
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: of the trial, including the expert testimony about Ellen's time
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: of death and alleged prosecutorial misconduct. The medical evidence remained
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a major issue because the revised estimate was so important
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to the state's account of what happened. In July 1995,
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  Speaker 2: the Connecticut Appellate Court upheld his conviction. Ed died the
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  Speaker 2: following January after suffering a heart attack in prison. He
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: was 52 and had served only a small portion of
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: his sentence. After his death, the Hartford Courant spoke with Kristen,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: who was 19 by then. She said she felt relieved.
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  Speaker 2: People had warned her that if Ed ever got out,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: he might come after her because of her role in
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  Speaker 2: the case, and that possibility had remained in the back
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: of her mind. For Ellen's family, the verdict established responsibility
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  Speaker 2: for her murder, but it could not return her to them.
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  Speaker 2: And that is our case for today. Thank you for
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: joining me for A Little Less Mess. Remember to go
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: ahead and subscribe to the podcast and follow us on
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: all of our social media. And we'll see you back
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: here on the main feed on Thursdays with Stu. Until then,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: bye everyone!
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Don't you know it's bad luck to be superstitious But
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: nothing else is working And my head is really hurting
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sick of all this worrying About things I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: can't control