Latest / NO FILTER / Bad Acting _ Lies Leads Police to the Killer_ The Murder of Barry Schmalbach _ True Crime Doc

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Bad Acting _ Lies Leads Police to the Killer_ The Murder of Barry Schmalbach _ True Crime Doc · NO FILTER

0:02
Speaker 1: On the night of July nineteenth, twenty twenty three, desperate
0:06
Speaker 1: cries were heard emanating from Barry Schmallbach's condo in Cape Coral.
0:11
Speaker 1: In the days that followed, no one saw Barry. Messages
0:15
Speaker 1: sent from his cell phone were at first owed, then
0:18
Speaker 1: they ceased entirely. Barry's boyfriend, his closest friends, and his
0:23
Speaker 1: family spoke with police, though by the time investigators began
0:29
Speaker 1: retracing his steps, it seemed it was too late. Hi there,
0:39
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case
0:43
Speaker 1: is about a man who worked hard, made to lifelong friends,
0:47
Speaker 1: and then met a terrible fate. It's a harsh reminder
0:50
Speaker 1: to be cautious about who you let into your life.
0:53
Speaker 1: Sometimes people are not as they seem. Let's take a look.
1:12
Speaker 1: Cape Coral is a quaint coastal community in southwest Florida,
1:16
Speaker 1: with over four hundred miles of waterways. Its extensive canal
1:19
Speaker 1: network has earned the city the affectionate nickname the Venice
1:23
Speaker 1: of America. Fifty six year old Berry Smallbach relocated from Naples, Florida,
1:28
Speaker 1: to Cape Coral in twenty twenty two, purchasing a corner
1:32
Speaker 1: condo unit in a welcoming building on Beach Parkway. Years before,
1:37
Speaker 1: Barry had left his role as vice president and head
1:40
Speaker 1: of the buying department for paper goods and equipment at
1:42
Speaker 1: a restaurant supplier in Chicago, Illinois. In Florida, he started
1:47
Speaker 1: his own business and experienced continued success. But now he
1:52
Speaker 1: could also enjoy more of the sunshine. Barry had done
1:57
Speaker 1: just that. He was close with his neighbors, often spending
2:00
Speaker 1: time together at the communal pool. The group was so
2:03
Speaker 1: involved in each other's lives they joked that the building
2:06
Speaker 1: was just like the old TV show Melrose Place. In
2:10
Speaker 1: recent months, they had a new edition Barry's new boyfriend,
2:13
Speaker 1: thirty five year old Christopher Davis. Christopher moved in with
2:17
Speaker 1: Barry after just a couple of months. They met at
2:20
Speaker 1: a Cinco de Mayo party hosted by a mutual friend. However,
2:25
Speaker 1: by late July, their whirlwind romance was already on the rocks.
2:33
Speaker 1: Miguel Blanco, one of Barry's longtime friends in Cape Coral,
2:37
Speaker 1: awoke on the morning of Thursday, July twentieth, twenty twenty
2:40
Speaker 1: three to find a voicemail that Barry had left him
2:42
Speaker 1: the night before. The timestamp of The message was eight
2:46
Speaker 1: twenty one pm.
2:48
Speaker 2: Hey, it's me.
2:49
Speaker 3: Give me a call.
2:50
Speaker 4: I need your help.
2:51
Speaker 5: I need to get rid of the idiot because I
2:54
Speaker 5: can't take it anymore.
2:58
Speaker 1: Miguel returned Barry's call but received no answer. His next
3:02
Speaker 1: call was to Christopher. It seemed obvious from the frustration
3:06
Speaker 1: expressed in Barry's message that the two had at least
3:09
Speaker 1: been arguing, if not formally ending their relationship. Miguel assumed
3:14
Speaker 1: Barry needed help moving Christopher out of the condo, but
3:18
Speaker 1: when he checked in, Christopher sent Miguel a screenshot of
3:21
Speaker 1: his last exchange with his boyfriend. The last message read,
3:26
Speaker 1: I'm fine, I'm staying with friends for a few days.
3:28
Speaker 1: I need some space. Please stop calling me. Blurred out
3:32
Speaker 1: in the messages were an abundance of curse words scattered
3:35
Speaker 1: amongst Christopher's angry demands and please to his boyfriend. Miguel
3:40
Speaker 1: and his husband Tom scrutinized the exchange. They had known
3:44
Speaker 1: Barry for nearly ten years. His response did not strike
3:48
Speaker 1: them as genuine. The two friends agreed if someone spoke
3:52
Speaker 1: to Barry in an aggressive way, he would give the
3:55
Speaker 1: same energy back. Neither believed that Barry had written that message.
4:04
Speaker 1: Miguel and Tom arrived at the condo building on Beach
4:06
Speaker 1: Parkway the following day to check in on their friend.
4:10
Speaker 1: Barry's jeep was missing from the parking lot. They found
4:13
Speaker 1: two packages addressed to his business outside of his doorway.
4:17
Speaker 1: There was no response when they knocked on the door.
4:21
Speaker 1: Tom and Miguel used the spare key Barry had given
4:24
Speaker 1: them to let themselves into the condo. Inside, they were
4:27
Speaker 1: shocked by the state of the home. Barry was an
4:30
Speaker 1: unfailingly tidy individual. The word most often used to describe
4:35
Speaker 1: his habits was meticulous. Everything had its place. That was
4:40
Speaker 1: not what Miguel and Tom found in the condo that
4:43
Speaker 1: Friday evening. Items sat out, They noted mud tracked around
4:47
Speaker 1: on the floor, lights had been left on. It was
4:51
Speaker 1: so uncharacteristic of their dear friend that it set off
4:54
Speaker 1: alarm bells. Disturbed, they left the business packages on the
4:58
Speaker 1: counter inside and the pair life left. They went home
5:02
Speaker 1: and called the police. Miguel and Tom were not the
5:07
Speaker 1: only ones to contact law enforcement. The following morning, Christopher
5:11
Speaker 1: Davis called the non emergency line.
5:15
Speaker 6: My boy friend, I haven't heard of him a few days.
5:18
Speaker 6: He did tell me that he wanted from faith and
5:21
Speaker 6: he needed a few days. But his friends hasn't hurt
5:24
Speaker 6: from years, and I was concerned.
5:28
Speaker 7: I wasn't trying to be.
5:29
Speaker 6: Maybe, but he left it out watch year and coming
5:32
Speaker 6: in apparently has the count of dinner one.
5:34
Speaker 7: Last night, so he said that he has actually coming
5:38
Speaker 7: in last night, so he was on I don't know,
5:42
Speaker 7: I don't see what he did the half I watched
5:44
Speaker 7: me just popped in from a du three number and said,
5:47
Speaker 7: how did you feel about that? Accounting dinner? And how
5:50
Speaker 7: about trying to meet tomorrow?
5:52
Speaker 2: Okay?
5:53
Speaker 6: But his other friends has not hurt from him. The
5:56
Speaker 6: girl has not hurt from him, and I have not
5:58
Speaker 6: heard from him. He did refage me to tell me
6:00
Speaker 6: that you wanted to say for a few days, right,
6:03
Speaker 6: and our house package on the counter, so I think.
6:08
Speaker 2: On the counter, but I don't.
6:10
Speaker 7: Okay, so I'll have to come out to meet with you.
6:13
Speaker 7: It doesn't sound like he's missing if he's still coming
6:15
Speaker 7: and dropping stuff off and having dinners.
6:18
Speaker 4: But what is his name?
6:20
Speaker 7: Very small?
6:22
Speaker 1: An officer for the Cape Coral Police Department, was dispatched
6:28
Speaker 1: to speak with Christopher. The thirty five year old was
6:31
Speaker 1: simultaneously emotional over his missing boyfriend, while maintaining that there
6:36
Speaker 1: was likely no real reason for concern.
6:40
Speaker 2: So my boyfriend very.
6:44
Speaker 6: It hasn't been home in a few days, told me
6:46
Speaker 6: of your friends has called me today, said that they haven't.
6:52
Speaker 2: Now I'm calling.
6:53
Speaker 8: I'm beginning to get in the stations of worried.
6:56
Speaker 2: His apple.
6:58
Speaker 8: I just turned it on and apparently he was having
7:01
Speaker 8: an Italian dinner with something last night. And I think
7:04
Speaker 8: that might be taking like a different, okay kind of shape,
7:09
Speaker 8: but he is not responding to me.
7:10
Speaker 2: Or his friend. So I saw my notes. It said
7:13
Speaker 2: that he needed some space, okay.
7:18
Speaker 8: So he had like an open relationship and he's been
7:23
Speaker 8: talking to guys on rider and liking that kind of thing.
7:26
Speaker 2: So that's what he like.
7:28
Speaker 8: That's what I took the space to me. And it's
7:30
Speaker 8: because he goes out of count all the time. If
7:32
Speaker 8: you want the dimential, I show you he's done this
7:34
Speaker 8: three or four times.
7:36
Speaker 1: Where Christopher showed the officer previous messages between himself and Barry,
7:42
Speaker 1: which he suggested showed that this behavior was not a
7:45
Speaker 1: typical of his boyfriend. Nonetheless, he thought he should file
7:49
Speaker 1: a report.
7:51
Speaker 8: And then if you look here, if you want to
7:53
Speaker 8: go back, but you can see where like ghost before.
8:00
Speaker 2: What day was this forcade? This one right here? Yeah,
8:03
Speaker 2: well what is all that? Is it from yesterday?
8:05
Speaker 9: No?
8:05
Speaker 8: No, no, this is from another This is till about
8:08
Speaker 8: three weeks ago okay, where he did the same thing,
8:11
Speaker 8: which is why I didn't initially like freak out, but
8:14
Speaker 8: like more and more frequently, and I don't know if
8:16
Speaker 8: she's got like maybe he's got the problem or if
8:19
Speaker 8: he said, like he does thisiness from home, I don't
8:24
Speaker 8: want it.
8:25
Speaker 2: So he leaves and goes.
8:26
Speaker 8: He was just in the Wisconsin for two weeks. He
8:29
Speaker 8: was in Los angelesber or sorry saying diego.
8:31
Speaker 10: For two weeks.
8:32
Speaker 2: He uh, he was just in Chicago before that.
8:37
Speaker 8: Okay, okay, so what is you look and see. This
8:41
Speaker 8: is what I'm saying is like this has happened. This
8:44
Speaker 8: is all you Yeah, this is all.
8:46
Speaker 2: Me this Yeah. So that was on July fifth.
8:49
Speaker 8: So that's what I'm saying is like this happens all
8:51
Speaker 8: the time, okay, And so I don't know what to do,
8:55
Speaker 8: but I wanted to go ahead and follow report because
8:57
Speaker 8: it's friends are now saying that like I need to
8:59
Speaker 8: because he's not responding to them and friend.
9:04
Speaker 1: Christopher then pointed to communication that came through Barry's Apple Watch,
9:08
Speaker 1: which he had inexplicably left at home. Those messages suggested
9:12
Speaker 1: he had been out recently having dinner with an unknown companion.
9:17
Speaker 2: This is what I found.
9:19
Speaker 8: Everybody's messaging him, where are you?
9:21
Speaker 2: Where are you? Where are you?
9:23
Speaker 11: And then this came up. I'll say, I think this
9:33
Speaker 11: was sorry and this was yesterday. How did you prove
9:38
Speaker 11: to yesterday? My great adults?
9:45
Speaker 8: He does have his uh yes, but yeah, so I I.
9:51
Speaker 2: Was just today and his friend called him, was like, hey,
9:55
Speaker 2: what's happening. I think to Walmart? He was like, where's Barry?
9:58
Speaker 2: And because that's what he meant, because that's why I
10:02
Speaker 2: probably said what he said. He was going to go
10:04
Speaker 2: stay with friends.
10:05
Speaker 3: Right right?
10:05
Speaker 2: He said that he does go out of count he does,
10:07
Speaker 2: right all right? Is his vehicle here? Did he take
10:11
Speaker 2: the dif he did things? But he never takes the
10:13
Speaker 2: because he like an uber or something.
10:15
Speaker 8: Every time the air, every single count, he never takes
10:19
Speaker 8: the core out.
10:21
Speaker 1: Given the circumstances, the officer agreed that they did not
10:25
Speaker 1: need to follow through with a formal missing person's report
10:28
Speaker 1: right away, since there appeared to be communication from very recently.
10:32
Speaker 1: Christopher was advised to wait a day or two.
10:36
Speaker 8: He knows that I should get through them that we
10:39
Speaker 8: got it because I turned and he couldn't find my
10:43
Speaker 8: find my eye doutch on his phone because I thought
10:45
Speaker 8: it was chill.
10:46
Speaker 2: And it couldn't be here they could be. I mean,
10:51
Speaker 2: like I said, I don't know what you all do
10:52
Speaker 2: and what have of relationship he got or anything like that,
10:54
Speaker 2: But it seemed like he needed some space. He wanted
10:57
Speaker 2: to head out.
10:57
Speaker 8: He maybe didn't want to talk to anybody around here
10:59
Speaker 8: for well, obviously from the looks of it, he shouldn't
11:02
Speaker 8: be at.
11:05
Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, like I said, I can document it that
11:08
Speaker 2: I did talk to you. Do you have a driver's license?
11:12
Speaker 2: I do have to find it.
11:14
Speaker 1: Christopher failed to locate his driver's license for the officer,
11:18
Speaker 1: but did provide him with information. Born in Homer, Alaska,
11:22
Speaker 1: Christopher provided the birth date of June ninth, nineteen eighty nine.
11:28
Speaker 2: Uh, Chris, Christopher, Christopher, what's your initial and the birth Yeah? Donald,
11:38
Speaker 2: last day you said.
11:41
Speaker 3: You want in Florida.
11:43
Speaker 2: Last year it is Alaska. Last name is Davis. Okay,
11:48
Speaker 2: it's not coming about middle initial. Did you change a
11:51
Speaker 2: name around of that. I mean it is a popular man.
11:55
Speaker 2: Davis is popular. But well, anyways, like I said, Christopher,
11:59
Speaker 2: give it a little bit. I'm sorry YEA.
12:09
Speaker 1: Police would later determine that Christopher Davis's real date of
12:13
Speaker 1: birth is June eighth, nineteen eighty eight, not the date
12:17
Speaker 1: he gave and verified to the officer that day. Had
12:21
Speaker 1: he provided the correct information, they would have immediately discovered
12:24
Speaker 1: that he was wanted on two active arrest warrants, one
12:28
Speaker 1: in Georgia for a probation violation for fraud and another
12:32
Speaker 1: in South Carolina for a probation violation for larceny. It
12:38
Speaker 1: was Miguel and Tom who insisted a missing persons report
12:42
Speaker 1: be filed that day. After they did so, police returned
12:45
Speaker 1: to the condo to speak with Christopher. He told them
12:48
Speaker 1: that he witnessed Barry leaving in someone else's vehicle, possibly
12:52
Speaker 1: in Uber, two days before on July twentieth. However, there
12:57
Speaker 1: was further reason to doubt this assertion. Barry had recently
13:01
Speaker 1: experienced some health issues and had an ongoing heart condition.
13:05
Speaker 1: Following his recovery from a serious heart attack, Barry had
13:09
Speaker 1: taken a series of steps to ensure his well being first,
13:13
Speaker 1: he began walking every morning, rising at five am and
13:16
Speaker 1: covering five to six miles on foot each day. He
13:20
Speaker 1: also changed his diet, lost a significant amount of weight,
13:23
Speaker 1: and began taking medication. Inside the condo, investigators found Barry's
13:29
Speaker 1: heart medication inside of a backpack near to his desk.
13:32
Speaker 1: They also found his passport. Then, crucially, in a wallet
13:37
Speaker 1: containing Christopher Davis's driver's license, they retrieved a handful of
13:42
Speaker 1: credit cards, each one under the same name, Barry Schmalbach.
13:51
Speaker 2: You were standing over there by the pool and all
13:54
Speaker 2: the cops are here and.
13:55
Speaker 8: I was like, hey, man, what's up.
13:56
Speaker 12: He's like hey.
13:56
Speaker 8: I'm like, you know, what's going on?
13:58
Speaker 3: And he said yeah, they're searching my.
14:01
Speaker 2: Condo and I was like, ooh, that's no good. Then
14:03
Speaker 2: he said, yeah, my boyfriend's missing.
14:05
Speaker 12: It's been seven days. You know, not no contact with
14:10
Speaker 12: anybody for seven days. That's not normal for anybody that's
14:14
Speaker 12: even upset. That's not normal, not to contact anybody for
14:17
Speaker 12: seven days.
14:21
Speaker 1: It was Wednesday, July twenty sixth when police launched a
14:24
Speaker 1: formal investigation into Barry's disappearance, calling the circumstances suspicious.
14:30
Speaker 13: So this is the reason why we're holding the news
14:32
Speaker 13: conference today is because this is abnormal behavior. So that
14:36
Speaker 13: being said, him not contacting his family is not something
14:39
Speaker 13: that he normally would do. So that's why it's going
14:42
Speaker 13: to be a heightened missing person's case, and that's why
14:44
Speaker 13: we're here today.
14:45
Speaker 1: The last verifiable sighting of Barry was one week prior,
14:49
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, July nineteenth, the same day he left the
14:52
Speaker 1: voicemail on Miguel's phone. That night, Barry had also been
14:56
Speaker 1: in contact with a close friend in Chicago, Rosalie fell
14:59
Speaker 1: ou Co. At just past six pm, he wrote to Rosalie,
15:04
Speaker 1: I am at the bar with my BF, but I
15:06
Speaker 1: am so done with this BS. Please call me tomorrow.
15:10
Speaker 1: I miss you so much.
15:12
Speaker 10: My best friend of forty years. His name is Barry.
15:17
Speaker 10: He lives in Cape Coral, Florida. I think I was
15:21
Speaker 10: the last message that he had on July nineteenth. He
15:25
Speaker 10: was out at a bar on Wednesday, the nineteenth of July.
15:29
Speaker 10: I'm sure in Cape Coral.
15:31
Speaker 1: Barry was spotted with Christopher that evening at Cruisers Lounge,
15:35
Speaker 1: a local gay bar. Witnesses at the bar reported that
15:39
Speaker 1: the couple appeared to be having a disagreement. It came
15:42
Speaker 1: to an end when Barry paid the tab and walked
15:44
Speaker 1: out of the building. Christopher was chasing after him. Cameras
15:49
Speaker 1: captured the couple walking home just before eight thirty pm,
15:53
Speaker 1: Barry in the blue shirt and Christopher in black. Barry
15:57
Speaker 1: must have left his voicemail for Beguel during the walk.
16:00
Speaker 1: The cameras placed the couple back in the condo by
16:03
Speaker 1: eight thirty. At around that time, from the unit just below,
16:07
Speaker 1: Barrie's neighbor Kimberly reported hearing noises. She later described them
16:13
Speaker 1: as someone being tossed around. A voice cried out no, no, no,
16:18
Speaker 1: followed by a muffled whimper. She said later that she
16:22
Speaker 1: felt she had been listening to someone take their last breath.
16:26
Speaker 1: The sounds were so disturbing that they sent chills down
16:29
Speaker 1: her spine.
16:34
Speaker 4: Why didn't they call the police?
16:36
Speaker 14: I mean, if you hear yeah, I'm really upset about
16:39
Speaker 14: that too. They should have called the police or or somehow.
16:50
Speaker 4: Oh, hey, we can hear you down here. You know,
16:53
Speaker 4: maybe it would have stopped them.
16:55
Speaker 14: You know, I want to call the cops, or banged
16:57
Speaker 14: on the wall and said, hey, you know, I can
17:00
Speaker 14: hear you down here.
17:01
Speaker 4: So I'm thinking, you know, to startle him out of the.
17:05
Speaker 14: State that he must have been in when he did
17:08
Speaker 14: this to my brother.
17:11
Speaker 1: The last message Rosalie received from Barry that night had
17:14
Speaker 1: been only minutes before the neighbor heard the disturbing noises
17:18
Speaker 1: coming from inside his condo. That last message read, it's okay.
17:23
Speaker 1: I love him, he's a knucklehead, but I can't wait
17:26
Speaker 1: to speak to you. I've had a few Christopher Davis
17:32
Speaker 1: left the condo on Beach Parkway at nine pm that night.
17:36
Speaker 1: He drove Berry's jeep to a local Walmart, where he
17:39
Speaker 1: was captured on camera using cash to purchase a plastic
17:42
Speaker 1: twelve x twenty four foot tarp alongside two rolls of
17:45
Speaker 1: duct tape. He also bought a chocolate milk. The next morning,
17:50
Speaker 1: he made his regular stop at Starbucks, telling the barista
17:53
Speaker 1: that Barry wasn't with him because he was busy working.
17:59
Speaker 1: His next stop was at a Lowe's hardware store at
18:02
Speaker 1: roughly eight forty five am. He walked out of the
18:05
Speaker 1: store pushing a new red hand trolley used to move
18:09
Speaker 1: heavy materials. Then he went on a bit of a
18:13
Speaker 1: shopping spree. He goes to Publix, where he purchased some
18:17
Speaker 1: fried Chicken and a nice tea using Barry's credit card.
18:22
Speaker 1: At Target, he was captured while checking out with a
18:25
Speaker 1: few small purchases again with Barry's card at that store
18:30
Speaker 1: he has shown accessing in ATM. Later that day, a
18:35
Speaker 1: phone call was placed to PNC Bank from someone claiming
18:39
Speaker 1: to be Barry Schmallbach seeking to have a card connected
18:43
Speaker 1: to his phone. The caller struggled to respond to the
18:45
Speaker 1: security questions, though ultimately had the card connected for his use.
18:51
Speaker 3: Thank you today, Yes absolutely, Jacqueline.
19:21
Speaker 1: Over the following days, the purchases continued gas for the jeep,
19:33
Speaker 1: further stops at ATMs and bank machines to withdraw cash,
19:37
Speaker 1: and purchases at Walmart. Christopher also searched for esthetic treatments
19:43
Speaker 1: and booked appointments for cosmetic procedures. Two days after Barry
19:47
Speaker 1: was reported missing, Christopher spent over fourteen hundred dollars of
19:52
Speaker 1: his boyfriend's money on botox fillers and a trip to
19:56
Speaker 1: a nail salon for a manicure. Investigators later located some
20:04
Speaker 1: of the items they believed Christopher Davis used to clean
20:07
Speaker 1: up after he had killed his boyfriend inside the condo.
20:11
Speaker 1: They found the packaging for the trolley in the trash
20:13
Speaker 1: at the building, alongside pieces of the newly purchased duct tape.
20:17
Speaker 1: They also found a phone case in the trash that
20:19
Speaker 1: matched Barry's device, but not Christopher's. They did not find
20:24
Speaker 1: Barry's phone. The discovery of this evidence was crucial because
20:28
Speaker 1: the steps that Christopher took next made it nearly impossible
20:32
Speaker 1: to find what they were really looking for. Barry Schmalbach
20:38
Speaker 1: license plate readers tracked Barry's jeep driving two hours east
20:42
Speaker 1: towards Clewiston and Montura in Henry County. The area is
20:47
Speaker 1: extremely rural, characterized by large green spaces. On his way,
20:52
Speaker 1: Christopher made a few stops at a Walmart. He got
20:56
Speaker 1: some cash and bought two air fresheners, one to hang
20:59
Speaker 1: from the rear mirror and the second a spray bottle
21:02
Speaker 1: that was later found in the jeep's trunk. He also
21:06
Speaker 1: stopped at an ACE hardware store. There, he used cash
21:10
Speaker 1: to purchase a large pickaxe as well as a shovel.
21:16
Speaker 1: Arriving at Mantura, Christopher booked a one night's stay in
21:19
Speaker 1: an Airbnb using his brother Tyler's account. After checking in,
21:24
Speaker 1: he told his host that he would be going out
21:26
Speaker 1: for a run. Christopher's cell phone placed him at the
21:29
Speaker 1: airbnb before the device was powered off for roughly three hours.
21:35
Speaker 1: When it came back onto the network, he was no
21:37
Speaker 1: longer at the rental, but about five miles away. Returning
21:42
Speaker 1: in the jeep, license plate readers captured a clean vehicle
21:46
Speaker 1: driving out, then a mud splattered, externally filthy vehicle upon
21:51
Speaker 1: his return. Where exactly he went in this three hours, however,
21:55
Speaker 1: could not be determined. He left the airbnb in a
21:59
Speaker 1: similar state of disarray. Furniture had been moved, mud was
22:03
Speaker 1: on the floor, and an excessive amount of sand in
22:06
Speaker 1: the shower. In over ten years, the host said they
22:10
Speaker 1: had never seen anything like it. Christopher may have left
22:18
Speaker 1: his overnight rental a mess, but he had cleaned himself
22:21
Speaker 1: up over more than twenty four hours. He had been
22:25
Speaker 1: captured wearing the same black tank top and shorts that
22:28
Speaker 1: he had worn to Cruiser's Lounge on July nineteenth. Returning
22:32
Speaker 1: from the Cluston area on the twenty first, however, Christopher
22:35
Speaker 1: had on a new outfit. He purchased some new toiletries
22:39
Speaker 1: and a hot dog. His last stop was at the
22:43
Speaker 1: same Ace Hardware where he had purchased the pickaxe and shovel,
22:47
Speaker 1: but this time he pulled into the back of the
22:49
Speaker 1: store next to a large recycling bin. Into the bin,
22:53
Speaker 1: he began to toss items, including the pick axe. An
22:58
Speaker 1: employee of the store, monitoring the cameras from inside, confronted
23:02
Speaker 1: him as he lifted the shovel from the back of
23:04
Speaker 1: the jeep. Not only was he not permitted to dispose
23:08
Speaker 1: of items in those dumpsters, but he was trying to
23:11
Speaker 1: recycle them. Christopher was prompted to remove the pick axe.
23:16
Speaker 1: It was left sitting next to the bin as he
23:18
Speaker 1: drove away. It was not until the next day that
23:26
Speaker 1: he called to report Barry missing. Once Christopher's movements had
23:35
Speaker 1: been traced, searches for Barry's body in the Montura area
23:38
Speaker 1: were undertaken. Investigators described the process as looking for a
23:43
Speaker 1: needle in a haystack. They drove out from the airbnb
23:46
Speaker 1: into the surrounding countryside, attempting to deduce which areas appeared
23:50
Speaker 1: to be accessible from the road. They were looking for
23:53
Speaker 1: any logical indication of where Christopher would choose to pull
23:57
Speaker 1: into the brush and it was rough terrain. If he
24:00
Speaker 1: had hidden Berry somewhere in the area, as they suspected.
24:04
Speaker 1: They expected Christopher to be covered in scratches, as it
24:08
Speaker 1: turns out he was. On Tuesday, August first, Christopher Davis
24:13
Speaker 1: was arrested on his outstanding warrant out of South Carolina
24:16
Speaker 1: and taken into custody by Cape Coral Police. Two days later,
24:20
Speaker 1: his arrest was made public. Police announced they had a
24:24
Speaker 1: person of interest in Barry's case, but failed to name
24:27
Speaker 1: Christopher Davis.
24:29
Speaker 15: Mister Smallback has not been heard from or seen since
24:33
Speaker 15: the evening of July nineteenth, twenty twenty three, near the
24:37
Speaker 15: eighteen hundred block of Beach Parkway East here in Cape Coral,
24:40
Speaker 15: near his home. At this time, we do have a
24:43
Speaker 15: person of interest, however, I'm unable to name that person today.
24:48
Speaker 15: Our detectives continue to actively pursue all leads and process
24:52
Speaker 15: pertinent evidence in our attempt to locate mister Schmallback.
24:57
Speaker 1: Eventually, Christopher was extradited back to South Carolina, where it
25:01
Speaker 1: was handed a five year sentence for his parole violations. Thankfully,
25:06
Speaker 1: it did not take that long for Lee County prosecutors
25:09
Speaker 1: to seek an indictment for murder. In January, Cape Coral
25:14
Speaker 1: police announced Christopher had been charged with Barry Schmahlbach's murder,
25:18
Speaker 1: and they had issued an arrest warrant to have him
25:21
Speaker 1: brought back to Lee County.
25:23
Speaker 16: This is culminated with the issuance of an arrest warrant
25:27
Speaker 16: for Christopher Davis on one count of second degree murder,
25:32
Speaker 16: one count of tampering with evidence, and nine counts of
25:35
Speaker 16: fraudulent use of personal identification of a deceased individual.
25:41
Speaker 17: Hearing it and having it confirmed brought a whole new
25:44
Speaker 17: way of emotions.
25:45
Speaker 5: I love you so much. I'm so heartbroken that this
25:52
Speaker 5: happened to you, and I'm so sorry, and I miss you.
26:04
Speaker 2: I would just.
26:05
Speaker 5: Hug him so hard.
26:09
Speaker 1: Searches for Barry continued. The case against his boyfriend was strong,
26:13
Speaker 1: yet hampered by law enforcement's inability to find him. Family
26:18
Speaker 1: and friends launched a grassroots effort, handing out flyers and
26:21
Speaker 1: accumulating a reward from various anonymous donors totaling sixteen thousand
26:27
Speaker 1: dollars for information leading to his location. During this time,
26:33
Speaker 1: police played with alternative theories. They undertook an extensive search
26:37
Speaker 1: of the sewer system near the Beach Parkway condo complex.
26:43
Speaker 1: Christopher reported being the target of attacks by other inmates.
26:48
Speaker 1: Christopher's legal team would repeatedly file to have him transferred
26:51
Speaker 1: to what they called safer conditions than the county jail.
26:57
Speaker 1: His requests were refused, and he went to try trial
27:00
Speaker 1: in June twenty twenty five.
27:07
Speaker 2: No no.
27:13
Speaker 18: Those are the last noises that the neighbor heard from
27:18
Speaker 18: Variation small box apartment before Barry was never seen or
27:22
Speaker 18: heard from again.
27:25
Speaker 1: While the state outlined a thorough timeline of the crime
27:28
Speaker 1: through witnesses at the building, surveillance cameras, and Christopher's own lies,
27:33
Speaker 1: the defense tried to create doubt where they could. Since
27:36
Speaker 1: Barry had never been located, it was primarily a circumstantial case. Barry,
27:41
Speaker 1: concerned over his health, they argued, had been keen to
27:44
Speaker 1: have Christopher move in to help take care of him.
27:47
Speaker 1: Despite the fact that Christopher did not work. They had
27:50
Speaker 1: a supportive and mutually beneficial relationship. They argued.
27:56
Speaker 2: You were here at that time.
27:58
Speaker 19: The severe heart issues Barry was adding in the medical issues,
28:06
Speaker 19: and then soon after Chris moves into the apartment. Your
28:11
Speaker 19: hero was very common, but his very was so concerned
28:14
Speaker 19: about his heart issues in medical situation. Super early four
28:19
Speaker 19: or five in the morning and went out walking from
28:22
Speaker 19: all the way you see maths each parkway, all the
28:26
Speaker 19: way down to where the Starbucks is, and just multiple miles.
28:31
Speaker 1: The defense asserted that the argument between the couple that night,
28:34
Speaker 1: which formed the basis of the state's theory of motive,
28:37
Speaker 1: was not that serious. Indeed, the bartender at Cruisers, who
28:41
Speaker 1: once dated Christopher said it wasn't loud or over the top,
28:46
Speaker 1: just a little argument. They asserted that as his boyfriend,
28:50
Speaker 1: Christopher had been given use of Barry's credit cards, Barry's
28:54
Speaker 1: wallet curiously had been located days after his disappearance in
28:58
Speaker 1: a storm drain along the path he usually took on
29:01
Speaker 1: his long morning walks. Most of his credit and bank cards, however,
29:06
Speaker 1: had been located in Christopher's wallet. Neighbors at the Beach
29:13
Speaker 1: Parkway complex took the stand. Kimberly from the unit directly
29:17
Speaker 1: below three three recalled what she heard the night of
29:20
Speaker 1: July nineteenth, noises that she later recognized were those of
29:24
Speaker 1: her friend and neighbor being murdered on the floor above.
29:28
Speaker 9: I was watching some TV and between that time I
29:34
Speaker 9: heard something directly right above my unit where I was sitting.
29:41
Speaker 9: Because we had, like I said, had the same floor
29:42
Speaker 9: plans I heard something being thrown up against the wall
29:46
Speaker 9: and heard no, no, no, And did.
29:51
Speaker 2: You hear anything after that?
29:52
Speaker 4: Yeah.
29:52
Speaker 9: A couple minutes later I heard this noise and it
29:59
Speaker 9: gave meat chills, like the hair on my arms, and
30:03
Speaker 9: it was like someone losing their last breath. And then
30:12
Speaker 9: maybe ten minutes later, I heard chirpter, which was a
30:18
Speaker 9: car someone opening up their car, and like I said,
30:23
Speaker 9: I know, I had to be around nine o'clock and
30:25
Speaker 9: I thought, well, that's weird. There's only three of us
30:30
Speaker 9: on my side of the building, and they were one upstairs,
30:35
Speaker 9: and like I said, I know they go to bed early.
30:38
Speaker 9: And Mary was downstairs. She don't go nowhere, and it
30:42
Speaker 9: was me. So I thought, well, it's time for me
30:46
Speaker 9: to go to bed. So I went to the front
30:48
Speaker 9: to lock the door, and as I walked by my window,
30:51
Speaker 9: I thought, let me see who and I looked out
30:55
Speaker 9: and Barry's jeep was missing.
30:58
Speaker 1: Kimberly was not the only resident of the building to
31:01
Speaker 1: witness portions of this horrific crime. In the early morning
31:05
Speaker 1: hours of July twentieth, Brian job awoke in his unit
31:08
Speaker 1: on the other side of the building to noises from outside.
31:11
Speaker 1: There had been construction underway in the area. At first,
31:15
Speaker 1: Brian thought perhaps teenagers had gotten into the construction zone.
31:19
Speaker 20: So I went to the front door, opened it up
31:23
Speaker 20: just a little bit, maybe ten inches, and I heard
31:26
Speaker 20: the plastic And then within just a few seconds I
31:30
Speaker 20: saw person dragging something back into the you know where
31:36
Speaker 20: I could see like the back half of them. They
31:40
Speaker 20: were bent over dragging something, and then I could bottom
31:46
Speaker 20: their back in.
31:48
Speaker 1: Brian watched as the individual began carrying items into unit
31:53
Speaker 1: three oh three.
31:55
Speaker 20: He was carrying a black toe with a yellow top
32:00
Speaker 20: like you see at Sam's or home depot.
32:03
Speaker 2: And did you see where that went? That individual go?
32:05
Speaker 20: He went right into the to the unit three oh.
32:08
Speaker 21: Three and unit three oh three once again, is that
32:11
Speaker 21: mister smallbox residence?
32:12
Speaker 6: Yes?
32:13
Speaker 21: And did you were you able to discern whether or
32:16
Speaker 21: not that individual was one of the same individual that
32:19
Speaker 21: was going and pulling that heavy tarp it was? And
32:23
Speaker 21: did that individual when you saw him once again with
32:26
Speaker 21: the black bin and the yellow top, were you able
32:31
Speaker 21: to discern buying through what you observed?
32:34
Speaker 2: Who that was?
32:35
Speaker 6: Yes?
32:36
Speaker 2: Who was that?
32:37
Speaker 20: Christopher Davis?
32:39
Speaker 1: When law enforcement searched the building days later, they brought
32:43
Speaker 1: in k dabber dogs. The handler was not informed which
32:46
Speaker 1: vehicle in the parking lot was of interest. The dogs
32:50
Speaker 1: clearly indicated that human remains had been inside barry schmallbox jeep.
32:57
Speaker 1: In their closing argument, the defense positive did a few theories.
33:02
Speaker 1: Perhaps Barry met up with a man from a dating
33:04
Speaker 1: app and things went wrong. Or perhaps Barry had too
33:08
Speaker 1: much to drink that night at Cruisers and was struck
33:10
Speaker 1: by a driver on the walk home. Or maybe he
33:14
Speaker 1: just stumbled into a canal.
33:17
Speaker 22: And Barry leaves and goes wondering how Beach Parkway and
33:21
Speaker 22: if you heard Beach Parkway goes down into the river.
33:26
Speaker 2: And then there's canals all around it.
33:29
Speaker 22: And play someone's coming out Beach Parkway and mows them
33:33
Speaker 22: down because they're drunk too.
33:34
Speaker 2: Dui manslaughter, Oh my god, my life's ruined. What do
33:38
Speaker 2: I do?
33:39
Speaker 14: Crap?
33:42
Speaker 2: They're in the car and go.
33:45
Speaker 22: Meanwhile, as while it fell out and is now in
33:47
Speaker 22: a storm drain. Or let's get rid of that. Let's
33:50
Speaker 22: blame it all on Chris. Let's infer from the every night,
33:53
Speaker 22: It's all on him, the mastermind.
33:55
Speaker 4: Here.
33:57
Speaker 1: The trial was over quickly. Every piece of evidence was
34:00
Speaker 1: presented inside of four days. Christopher Davis did not take
34:05
Speaker 1: the stand. The defense called no witnesses. When it came
34:09
Speaker 1: time for the jury to deliberate, they took less than
34:12
Speaker 1: two hours.
34:15
Speaker 23: Murdict we the jury finds as follows as to count
34:19
Speaker 23: one of the charge, Count one, second degree murder, the
34:24
Speaker 23: defendant is guilty of second degree murder, Count two tampering
34:30
Speaker 23: with physical evidence.
34:31
Speaker 1: Christopher was found guilty of each count. The judge swiftly
34:36
Speaker 1: delivered his sentence life in prison. Christopher also received an
34:41
Speaker 1: additional five years for tampering with evidence and five consecutive
34:45
Speaker 1: years for each of the eight counts related to credit
34:48
Speaker 1: card and identity fraud for using Barry's identity after his death.
34:53
Speaker 1: The conviction brought some relief to Barry's friends and family,
34:57
Speaker 1: though it could not remove their grief worse knowing that
35:01
Speaker 1: Barry has not been found and that they may never
35:04
Speaker 1: locate him.
35:06
Speaker 17: Our and goal hasn't changed. We want to find Barry,
35:10
Speaker 17: and we are well aware that a lot of these
35:12
Speaker 17: cases go unsolved and there's no resolution and families are
35:18
Speaker 17: always just left wondering what happened to my loved one.
35:22
Speaker 17: And we are extremely appreciative for all of the work
35:26
Speaker 17: that has been put into Barry's case.
35:34
Speaker 1: And that was the tragic case of Barry Schmaalbach. Thanks
35:38
Speaker 1: for joining me, and a special thanks this week to
35:41
Speaker 1: Amy guitaraz f l x r Z and Life in
35:45
Speaker 1: general for joining our members lounge. I'm Kevin. This is
35:49
Speaker 1: just thought lounge and I'll see in the next one.
35:55
Speaker 7: Because these crimes get deep, but these stories can't let
35:57
Speaker 7: me find go ahead to settle it gotta be selective,
36:01
Speaker 7: doing all the research, keeping it objective.
36:03
Speaker 4: Always been effective to say he got a neck picking
36:06
Speaker 4: the letter.
36:06
Speaker 2: You see how Newton got his back.
36:08
Speaker 4: Yeah.
36:08
Speaker 2: The content that you need is to be a new sign.
36:10
Speaker 2: Talking in the comments that you're interview lined you in it,
36:13
Speaker 2: like love that, like