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He Wrote a 26-Step "Recipe for Murder" — Then His Wife Vanished · FBI Files

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: In 1989, a female captain and a Marine disappeared from
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: her apartment. She was known for her mischievous behavior, but
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: her colleagues could hardly believe that she had moved away
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: from the troops without permission. The military authorities suspected that
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: she had become the victim of a crime. The FBI
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: concluded the investigations. They would find the highly decorated officer.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Or the judge. Shirley Russell was a determined woman. Determined
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: enough to achieve the rank of Chief of Staff in
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the United States Marine Corps. When this highly decorated officer
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: was called in as missing, her colleagues began to believe
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that she had removed herself from the troop. It was
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: unclear whether Chief of Staff Shirley Russell was dead or alive.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I am Jim Karlstrom, former head of the New York
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: FBI offices. If a crime is committed on a military base,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: it falls under the responsibility of the federal government. The
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: investigators must rely on their dedication and instinct. to solve
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the mystery of their disappearance. The base of the Marine
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Corps in Quantico, Virginia is 35 miles south of Washington, D.C.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Since 1917, it has been the headquarters of one of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the country's most selective paratroopers. Over 3,000 marines train, work
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and live on the 260 square kilometer large base. Almost
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: everything that belongs to civilian life can be found on
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the base, from shops to apartments. Married officers have the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: opportunity to live on the base in accommodation for married officers,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: who are referred to as MOKUs. Six months at McHugh No. 319,
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  Speaker 1: the home of Captain Charlie Gibbs Russell and his husband,
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  Speaker 1: Robert Russell. In January 1989, Captain Russell decided to end
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the marriage. The next month, she would stay with a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: friend outside the base until she got a job for
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: young men. Charlie packed her civilian clothes, her uniform and
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: her weapons given by the Marines. Robert asked her to stay,
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  Speaker 1: but Shirley was determined. The transfer was in vain. For
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Robert the separation meant that he had to leave the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: base camp. As a former Marine, he would lose his
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: last connection to the Corps. Captain Russell continued her career
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: as an adjutant of the commanding officer of the Support
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Battalion at the Marine Basic School. She was responsible for
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: all personnel, affairs and administrative duties of the Support Battalion.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: With her comrades and her commanding officer she was known
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: as an active Marine. Colonel James Hodges. When I met
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Shirley Russell for the first time, I was very impressed
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  Speaker 1: by the fact that she was a black captain. Because
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: we just don't have that many at the Marine Corps.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: She came from poor circumstances and had something to do
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: with it. She seemed so energetic and wanted to get
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in the rank order. Captain Russell? During their time together,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: they built a friendship based on mutual respect. I can't
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: talk to you right now. Hodges knew that Shirley's marriage
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: was in trouble. My relationship with Shirley Russell was something
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: very special. Although I was her commanding officer and, so
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to speak, her chief of staff, I was rather very
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: close to her as a kind of big brother and mentor.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: And sometimes we talked after work about her situation, her marriage,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: her past, etc. On Thursday, March 2nd, about a month
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: after her separation from Robert, Shirley went on vacation. She
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: had to clean up her former accommodation and end her
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: legal separation. Four days later, on Monday, March 6th, Hodges
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: came into the office and waited for Shirley to meet
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: at her desk. He was surprised that her office was empty.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Shirley had a flawless work balance. She had never come
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: too late. When I came in the door, I immediately
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: asked Major Buck Bourgeois, Where is Hallie? Where is Shirley?
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And he said, Sir, she is not here. And immediately
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  Speaker 1: I thought, oh no, something has happened to her. Colonel
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Hodges examined the unallowed disappearance. Captain Russell had recently been
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: taken to the young man's quarters at the base. Hodges
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: hoped to meet her at home. Captain Russell? Captain Russell?
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: As commander officer of the missing captain, Hodges had the
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: permission to search the room. Captain Russell? There was no
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: trace of her. and there were no signs that she
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: had moved out. The Marines captain's office returned and contacted
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  Speaker 1: the husband of the captain's wife, who now lived outside
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  Speaker 1: the base. Hodges knew that Robert Russell Shirley helped clean
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and iron her room at the weekend. They made an
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: appointment in the couple's former headquarters The Marine officers visited
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the apartment. Russell told him that he and Shirley met
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: here on Saturday at noon to do some work. According
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: to Russell, Shirley volunteered to buy 31 colors at the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: base exchange. He claimed that she did not take the car,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: but instead ran to the PX. Russell said he hadn't
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: seen her since. She went to get more information. Lieutenant
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Hodges didn't believe Robert Russell's story. She simply lied to me,
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  Speaker 1: because the PX is probably four or five miles away.
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  Speaker 1: It is impossible that she would have walked from her
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  Speaker 1: quarters to the PX. Outside the quarters, the officers also
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: inspected Russell's warehouse. On the ground, Chief Hodges noticed a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: rusty spot. Russell took it off as paint. Hodges was skeptical.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: He was not an expert, but for him it looked
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: like blood. Chief Lieutenant Hodges taught the Naval Investigative Service.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: The NIS reported the possibility of a crime to the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: FBI outside office in Washington. The NIS taught special agents
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: about the case. Captain Russell was considered missing for three.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Days.
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  Speaker 1: The agents of the standard procedure did not have any
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: evidence of their location. Special Agent Alan Malinczak led the case.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: If someone is missing, there is either a kidnapping of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: a missing person, someone has disappeared for some reason, or
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: there is a crime. The first investigations of the FBI
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: included all three investigative branches. Mr. Russell? According to the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: standard procedure, the first of the victims, the missing woman,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Robert Russell, was questioned. Thank you. Er erzählte den Agenten,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: dass er am Nachmittag von Shirley's Verschwinden gegen 13.30 Uhr
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  Speaker 1: mit einem Nachbarn gesprochen habe, als eine Freundin von ihr vorbeikam,
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  Speaker 1: um sie zum Mittagessen abzuholen. Um 15.30 Uhr, sagte Robert,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: er habe in ihrer Junggesellenunterkunft angerufen, um zu erfahren, ob
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: sie nach Hause gegangen sei. Der Dienstlein der Sachbearbeiter hatte
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Captain Russell nicht gesehen, also hinterließ Robert eine Nachricht. At
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: 4 p.m., Rob had the car of his roommate and
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: drove to Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with his parents.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: During the first interview with Robert Russell, he was very
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: calm and very practical. He wanted to support the FBI
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: in the investigations and gave me several places where Shirley
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: could find herself. with whom she could be in contact
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and what could have happened. Russell considered it possible that
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: someone had kidnapped or injured her. Although Shirley had no enemies,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the couple had some problems because of their mixed-race marriage.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Russell told the agent that he and his wife often
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: visited his hometown near Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. One afternoon, the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Russells were harassed by racists while shopping. According to her husband,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Shirley was scared, but another incident made her even more scared.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: An unknown man had called at his home at the checkpoint,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: The caller used racist swear words and threatened to do
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: some harm to the couple. Where is my number? Whoever
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the caller was, knew where the Russells lived. Leave us alone.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: After the threat calls, Robert said to the police officer
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  Speaker 1: that Shirley could need protection if he couldn't be with her.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: In a funhouse near the base, Robert was looking for
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  Speaker 1: a semi-automatic Raven in. 25 caliber only two days before
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  Speaker 1: Shirley's disappearance.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Point.
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  Speaker 1: Russell told the agent he had Shirley on the day
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  Speaker 1: they met to surprise her with a gift at her
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  Speaker 1: former accommodation. Thank you. According to Russell, Shirley was grateful
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: for the weapon with the pearl and handle. Thank you.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Agents were suspicious of the story. As captain of the Marines,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Shirley already had a personal side weapon. If she felt insecure,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: why would she need another weapon? Since Shirley and the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: weapon were not found, this question would be difficult to answer.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Marine Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell disappeared from her base on
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: March 4, 1989. Her husband was the last person who
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: saw her. The investigators had to confirm his story. The
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: FBI questioned Marine Captain Patrice Gale. After Robert Russell, Captain
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Gale disappeared on the day Shirley disappeared. At 1.30 p.m.
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  Speaker 1: Shirley's former living room appeared to pick her up for lunch. Gale,
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  Speaker 1: I confirm. Robert also told you that Shirley went for
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  Speaker 1: a walk and didn't come back? Captain Gale found that strange.
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  Speaker 1: Shirley never missed an appointment. And this one was particularly important.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Just one day before, Gail Shirley accompanied Gail Shirley to
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  Speaker 1: the law firm of the Stützpunkt to pick up her
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: divorce papers. Shirley intended to hand over Robert to her
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: on the day she had painted her former background. This
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: would have made her divorce official and Shirley worried about
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Robert's reaction. After that, she would need a girlfriend to
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: talk to, and asked Captain Gale to meet her. When
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Shirley didn't show up, Captain Gale made sure Robert had
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: done something to her. FBI agents checked Shirley's undisturbed office.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: The employee had not seen her since Saturday, March 4,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the day of her disappearance. Am selben Samstag bestätigte Corporal
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Dan Carraway, dass Robert Russell angerufen hatte, nach seiner Frau
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  Speaker 1: zu fragen. Der Corporal notierte in seinem Logbuch die Uhrzeit
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  Speaker 1: mit 15.30 Uhr. Etwa eine halbe Stunde nachdem er die
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  Speaker 1: Nachricht entgegengenommen hatte, glaubte Carraway, Captain Russell zu sehen. Sie telefonierte.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Er erinnerte sich, dass sie Jeans und einen kastanienbraunen Pullover trug.
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  Speaker 1: Er wollte ihr die Nachricht überbringen, dass ihr Mann angerufen hatte,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: aber er war abgelenkt. Als Carraway frei war, war die Frau,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: die er für Captain Shirley Russell gehalten hatte, verschwunden. Verschwunden.
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  Speaker 1: Seine Beschreibung widersprach Robert Russell's Aussage, dass Shirley einen blauen
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Jogginganzug getragen hatte. Der Corporal sah die Frau auch nur
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  Speaker 1: von hinten. Er konnte ihr Gesicht nie richtig sehen. The
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: agents doubted that she had ever returned to the apartment.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: They found no trace of Shirley moving or bringing the
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  Speaker 1: divorce papers or the... The investigators asked Russell's former neighbors.
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  Speaker 1: One of them said she had seen a blue commie
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  Speaker 1: standing in front of Russell's shop on Shirley's day. She
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: noticed that it was 7 o'clock. That was an hour later,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: when Russell, according to his information, had broken up with Pennsylvania.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: The investigators wondered whether Robert Russell was mistaken or lying.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Agent Alan Malinczak called the FBI in Pennsylvania to find
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  Speaker 1: out about Russell's whereabouts for the rest of the day.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Michael Quirk from the office in Allentown became
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: a co-file editor. He contacted Robert's parents. Robert Russell traveled
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: to St. Clair, Pennsylvania on March 4, 1989 and spent
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: the weekend with his family from March 4 to March 5.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: FBI interrogations by Russell's family confirmed that he had arrived alone.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: None of them had seen Shirley. Das FBI startete eine
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Medienkampagne und bat die Öffentlichkeit um Mithilfe. Das Foto von
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell war im Fernsehen und in Zeitungen
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: zu sehen. Die Hinweise häuften sich. Auf halbem Weg zwischen
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Quantico und Robert Russells Heimatstadt rief ein Verkäufer in York,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania die Bundesbehörden an. Der Verkäufer berichtete, dass eine junge
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: schwarze Frau am Nachmittag des Samstag, dem 4. März, im
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Laden gewesen sei. The day Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell disappeared
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: from Quantico. According to the seller, the woman bought me
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: articles and paid with a cheque. The seller asked the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: woman to prove herself. She showed a military ID. She
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: resembled photos that the seller had seen in the newspaper.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: The officer asked to see the cheques received that day.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Er stellte fest, dass keiner von ihnen von Shirley Gibbs
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Russell ausgestellt worden war. Der stellvertretende US-Staatsanwalt Lawrence Leiser arbeitete
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: mit dem FBI in diesem Fall zusammen. Er bemerkte ein
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: weiteres Detail, das darauf hindeutete, dass es sich bei der
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Frau im Laden nicht um Captain Russell handelte. Die Farbe
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: des Ausweises und die Position des Fotos auf dem Ausweis,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: der Shirley Russells ausgeschrieben wurde, waren der Ausweis eines unterhaltsberechtigten Militärangehörigen,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: nicht eines aktiven Militärangehörigen. Since March 4th, there has been
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: no activity on Captain Russell's bank or credit card accounts.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: She did not call her family or friends. In view
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: of Shirley's stable character, her disappearance for Agent Alan Mellinger
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: made no sense. She was the type of person who
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: would do very well in the Marine Corps. She would
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: be promoted. She had this ability. She was torn. She
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: was talkative. You could easily make friends. Everyone who worked
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: with her liked her. In her life, she was very
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: stable in terms of cooking and family. It just didn't
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: make sense that she just disappeared from her own drive. Ayup.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Without any news from her or a kidnapper, the agents
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: thought it was likely that Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell was dead.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: They were looking for her body. Dozens of marines swarm
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: across the huge base. They searched hundreds of hectares of
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: dense forest, which the marines used for training. They found
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: no trace of the missing captain. Perhaps Robert Russell knew
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: more about the disappearance of his wife than he told
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the FBI, Errol. For three days, the agents challenged him
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to undergo a lie detector test. He said that they
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: saw him for the last time when they were talking
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: about their round and that it was 15 o'clock on Saturday,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: March 4th. That's right. As before, the agents experienced him
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: as cool and cooperative. Robert Russell answered dozens of questions
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: for Shirley's place of residence for almost three hours. He
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: was subjected to three different tests. It was painted in red, Mr. Russell.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Every time, Robert Russel proved to be deceitful. When the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: agents told him the results, Russel seemed confused, almost self-righteous.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: We just want to exclude you from everything. He even
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: agreed to a fingerprint. Maybe he was aware that lie
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: detector tests are unlawful in front of a federal court.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Without the body, the investigators needed more than one suspicion
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to prove that Russell had killed and acquitted his wife.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: In the spring of 1989, the FBI began its search
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: for the body of Marine Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell. In
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: search of answers, the investigators researched the background of their
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: main suspect, their husband, Robert Russell. Special Agent Michael Kroc
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: found out that Russell was already married before he met Shirley.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: With his first wife, Pam, he had two children. The
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: marriage lasted only six years. In 1986, Russell told his
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: wife that he wanted to get divorced. He left Pam
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and the children on Christmas Day. Six months later, Robert
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Shirley was married when both were stationed on Paris Island
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: in South Carolina. The FBI found out that Shirley was
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: moved to Quantico shortly after. They also found out that
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Robert told friends about the spatial distance. He claimed that
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: he would leave the Marine Corps to join Shirley in
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Quantico and thus stabilize their relationship. The investigators found another
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: motive for the move. The agents thought it was unlikely
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that Robert voluntarily gave up his rank as captain. The
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Marine Corps was Robert's whole life and his whole world.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Military records show that Roberts' superiors in February 1988, when
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: he was stationed in Mississippi, found that his passion for
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the Corps was not to be combined with his provisions.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: They left Robert less honorable because of duty injury and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: fraud in the government. Er wurde aus seinem Büro eskortiert
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: und durfte nichts außer seiner eigenen Kleidung mitnehmen. Obwohl Robert
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: kein Marine mehr war, zog er aufgrund von Shirley's rank
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: als Captain in das Offiziersquartier in Quantico. Während Shirley ihn unterstützte,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: versuchte Robert sein Leben wieder in den Griff zu bekommen,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: indem er Lehrer an einer nahegelegenen Highschool wurde. All right, love.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Aber sein Alkoholkonsum wurde exzessiv. Er wurde immer öfter betrunken
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: und blieb bis spät in die Nacht weg. Robert? Shirley
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: war verzweifelt. Sie schloss Jal Anon an, einer Selbsthilfegruppe für
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Angehörige von Alkoholikern. Als Robert körperlich gewalttätig wurde, verließ Shirley
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: ihn schließlich. Pass mich nicht an, Paul. U.S. State Attorney
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Lawrence Leiser was of the opinion that Robert's problem with
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Shirley was only a few alternatives. She recognized that the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: marriage would lead to a negation and began to consult
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: a local advisory center that was available to the members
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of the Marine Corps. She also consulted a Marine attorney
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: to introduce the divorce process. Russell's instability and his mischievous
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: behavior strengthened the investigators' conviction that he could have killed Shirley.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: His personality could not bear that this black woman, his wife,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: was a successful member of the Marine Corps, who was
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: successful in her career, and who wanted to get rid
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: of him to the fullest extent. Agents found out that Shirley,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: during her separation from her close friend, the colleague of
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the Marines, Captain Ann McCann-Mack, had sought refuge. Captain Mack
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: told Ann McCann-Mallincheck that she was afraid of her husband.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: She had to leave him, but needed a place to stay.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: She had asked Captain Ann McCann-Mack if she could stay
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: with her in her townhouse in the vicinity of Springfield, Virginia.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Captain N. Mack agreed and set a few basic rules,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: such as that Bob Russell should not be there, that
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: he should not enter the house, nothing like that. But
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: that was not enough to keep Robert from Shirley away.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Mack was worried about her. Mack told the investigators that
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Robert Shirley had stalked. On several occasions he was up
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: early in the morning when Shirley wanted to go. Max
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: said that Robert Russell lived outside the base camp. He
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: moved in with one of his new colleagues. An FBI
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: agent checked the address. It was Sandy Flint's home. Sandy
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Flint only paid a little. She said she didn't know
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: anything about Robert's missing wife. When leaving the building, the
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: agent met Robert Flint, Sandy's father-in-law. He was a retired
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: painter who had worked in Quantico for ten years. Mr.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Flint told the agent of a conversation he had had
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: with Robert Russell two days after Shirley's disappearance. Robert Russell
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: asked him how to remove stains from concrete floors. And
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: his father-in-law said Bob Russell could simply use chlorine or
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: soap and water and that would basically wipe it away
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: or thin it out. And Bob asked him, and what
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: if it's blood? And the father-in-law said, you can use
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: salt acid. Mr. Flint told the agent something interesting. Sandy
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: and her husband had recently separated. He suspected that Sandy
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: now had an affair with Robert Russell. With every new
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: person the agents asked, they came across more deception by
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Robert Russell. If Sandy actually had an affair with Russell,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: she might have known if he had killed Shirley. The
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: agents told her that it would be foolish to prevent
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: a murder at federal level. Sandy agreed to speak to
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: the FBI. This time the agents experienced that she was
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: much more cooperative. She described her role in Robert Russell's possession.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: She admitted to having had an intimate affair with Bob
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Russell when Bob Russell was still married. She told us
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that she watched.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Over Bob's request Shirley Russell.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: She can tell Bob about Shirley's activities and place of residence.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: He engaged her as his spy. Sandy told the FBI
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Russell was convinced that Shirley had an affair. He wanted
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: to know where Shirley went and who she met. Sandy
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: followed him everywhere, but didn't find anything that supported his
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: foolish fixation. And he was so forced that he wanted
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to catch his wife going out with strangers? The irony
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: of the whole thing is, of course, that he didn't
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: cheat on her at all. He cheated on her. Robert
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: was too confused to think logically. He refused to give
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: up his beloved beliefs. If he had cheated on her,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Shirley would have done the same, in his opinion. And
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: he would have done anything to prove it. He told
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Sandy that he broke into his wife's car and replaced
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: a dictionary. When he couldn't take it anymore, he decided
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: to go closer. Robert broke into Nan Mac's house to
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: visit Shirley's bedroom. What happened then, Sandy said, was that
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the possession of her lover had completely distorted him. Robert
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: called his lover from his wife's bedroom and whispered to her.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: You don't believe where I'm going right now. Sandy told
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: him that he drank Shirley's wine and read her diary.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Then he said something that she would never forget. He
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: had told her that I would be there if Shirley
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: would be missing. I would take care of her. And
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: she had said that we couldn't do that. You know
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: that they would look for you. She said, if I
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: ask anyone about it, I'll fight it off. They don't
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: even admit that we're having a conversation right now. Sandy's
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: statements were burdensome, but her word was against his. To
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: bury her story, the FBI evidence was needed. We applied
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: for a thorough search of Captain Emmerich's apartment and secured
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the items. And some of these items, including a telephone
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: and a wine glass, were sent to the FBI laboratory
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: by us for analysis. There we were able to discover
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Robert Russell's fingerprints on these items. So the FBI had
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the first proof that Robert Russell had stalked his wife obsessively.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: But without Shirley's body, it was still not enough to
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: sue him for murder. In March 1989, there was hardly
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: any evidence that Robert Russell and the murder of his wife,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Marine Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell, were in touch. Early in
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: the investigation, the investigators found out that the suspect had
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: an affair with Sandy Flint. Flint told the FBI more
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: about the day Shirley Gibbs Russell disappeared. She said Robert
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Russell borrowed her car, a blue Kombi, to drive to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: his parents' house in Pennsylvania. She remembered that he had
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: left her house at around 4 p.m. Sandy found it strange,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: because he could have used his own pickup. The U.S.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: State Attorney Lawrence Leiser believed that Russell had borrowed her
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: car on that day to transport Shirley's body to Pennsylvania.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: He had asked to use this car because he had
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: an open pickup. The body was still in the warehouse
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: and he had to remove the body. But he couldn't
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: do that in an open pickup, so he left the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: closed combination of his girlfriend to remove the body. The
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: investigators hope to be able to undermine this theory. They
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: returned to Russell's former residence, where his neighbor had seen
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: the same blue van in front of his shed. The
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: investigators had to look at the floor on which Lieutenant
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Hodges had seen the rusty stain. Look more closely, look
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: more closely. But the stain had at least disappeared superficially.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: And while they were digging out the white concrete pieces,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Bob Russell had asked her what was going on. And
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: they told him to take these samples to find out
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: what substance was on the concrete. And Mr. Russell voluntarily
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: told him, well, I cleaned it with some salt and acid.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: The FBI laboratory confirmed that salt and acid was on
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the concrete. The same substance that Mr. Flint Russell suggested
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: to remove blood from cement. The technicians found no traces
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of blood or paint on the splinters. What could have
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: been an important forensic evidence, was destroyed. The agents hoped
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: that Sandy Flint's car would reveal more. The FBI investigators
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: searched the van inside and outside. Er war ungewöhnlich sauber
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: für ein älteres Auto, das vor kurzem eine Hin- und
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Rückfahrt von Virginia nach Pennsylvania gemacht hatte. Es stellte sich
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: als eine weitere Sackgasse heraus. Als die Ermittlungen in Virginia
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: ins Stocken gerieten, trennte sich Robert Russell von Sandy, packte
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: seine Sachen und zog nach Pennsylvania, um ein neues Leben
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: zu beginnen, um ein neues Leben zu beginnen. Der Ermittlungsschwerpunkt
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: des FBI verlagerte sich ebenfalls nach Norden. The agents followed
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: every step of Robert. They found out that he left
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: his parents for the support of his brothers Mike and Ron,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: but had a very close relationship. The agents sought the
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: brothers several times. Mike Russell was ready to meet with
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the agents. He told him that Robert, on the day
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: after Robert's arrival in Pennsylvania after Shirley's disappearance, had brought
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Sandy Flynn's van to a nearby car wash. Robert and
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: his brother had thoroughly cleaned the interior of the car
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: by sucking it and spraying it with fresh air spray.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: The agents were convinced that Robert's actions showed his intention
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: to eliminate all evidence that Shirley's body was in the car.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Mike Russell told the agents that he had never seen
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a corpse. But he admitted that his brother's behavior seemed desperate,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: since Shirley had left him. Two months before her disappearance,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Mike and his older brother Ron went to Virginia to
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: get Robert's weapons. Agent Quirk remembered that his brothers held
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: it necessary to prevent Robert from injuring anyone. Er war deprimiert,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: weil er nicht mehr bei den Marines war. Er liebte
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: die Marines. Er hatte kein Geld. Er war Captain bei
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: den Marines. Jetzt ist er Sonderschullehrer und Dollar. Shirley hatte
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: ihn von ihrem Girokonto abgebucht. Er hatte also finanzielle Probleme.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Indizien häufen sich. But the FBI lacked a decisive piece
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: of evidence for its case. Shirley Gibbs Russell's body. The
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: first question was where to look. The agents found the
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: answer from Robert Russell's first wife, Pam. Robert's parents' house
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: was in Schielke County, a rural mountain region in the
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: northeast of Pennsylvania. Thousands of coal mines, most of them abandoned,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: are scattered over the ravaged county. Some are hundreds of
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: meters deep and sometimes filled with water. As a young man,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the suspicious Robert Russell spent a large part of his
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: time wandering and hunting in the region. His family said
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: he knew the place like his western bag. A search
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: in this area would be a challenge But nobody ever
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: questioned whether it should be done. 150 people took part
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: in the extensive search for Shirley Gibbs Russell at the
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: beginning of May. Volunteers from the FBI, the Marines, the
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Naval Investigative Service and the Pennsylvania State Police took part.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: None of them was more eager to find the missing
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Marine Infantryman than their own colleagues from the United States
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Marine Corps. Nine helicopters and six transport trucks full of
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Marines were used. For three days they searched 2,000 hectares
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: of land. They never found the body of Captain Russell.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: The agents would soon develop a theory why the search
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: was not more successful. Agent Quirk heard of a strange
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: phone call that Ron Russell had received from his brother Robert.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: Robert asked Ron if he could get him some dynamite.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: And Robert explained. that he couldn't get any dynamite in
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Quantico because it was too expensive. And Ron asked Robert,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: why do you want dynamite? And Robert's answer was, I
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: want to chase Shirley into the air. Crumb never bought it.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: But the investigators wondered whether Robert Russell had thrown Shirley's
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: body into a mine shaft and then sealed her grave
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: with an explosion. The search came to a surprising result.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: An investigator found something that looked like the grip of
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: a pistol. An analysis was carried out in the FBI
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: laboratory in Washington, D.C. During the comparison of the samples
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: with hundreds of other weapons, the examiners found that it
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: was a semi-automatic Raven of the. 20 caliber. It was
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: the same weapon type that Robert Russell had bought two
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: days before his wife's disappearance in a penthouse on March 2nd. Unfortunately,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: this tempting discovery of the prosecution would not help. The
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: investigators found Robert's fingerprints on the weapon. For the police,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: it looked as if the ex-Marine had wiped his tracks well.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Without a murder weapon or a corpse, it would be
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: almost impossible to condemn Robert Russell for murder. Clear. After
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: two-month investigations that took place in more than two states
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: and thousands of hours of work, the FBI was unable
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: to get close to the arrest of his main suspect,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Robert Russell, for murdering his wife, Marine Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Although the agents had collected a considerable amount of evidence,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Attorney General Lawrence Leiser did not have enough
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: evidence to sue Russell for the crime. We didn't have
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: any bodies, we didn't have any eyeglasses, we didn't have
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: any weapons. We just needed an enormous amount of investigation
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: and effort to put the puzzle pieces together. To go
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: beyond and to follow the clues, an enormous amount of
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: hours and energy these FBI agents used to collect the evidence.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: The authorities didn't even have enough evidence to take a arrest? Ouch,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: the agents were frustrated, just like the hundreds of Marines
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: their life Captain Chevy Russell had touched. It was as
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: if you lost a child or a dear friend and
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: can't do anything about it. And what frustrated me so
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: much was that she was so close to being freed
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: from her bad marriage. And that she was then killed,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: concerns me to this day. I mean, it's just one
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of those things that you never get away with. It
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: looked like Robert Russell was about to commit murder. But
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Russell's past mistakes should catch up with him. We were.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: Contacted by the Nevaehville Investigative Service in Gulfport, Mississippi, that
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: there was evidence in a spin that you had kept
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: when Bob was released from.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: The Marine Corps. So they sent it to us and
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: it turned out that it was a diskette. She was
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: deported when Russell was released from service a year before
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Shirley Russell's disappearance in Mississippi. For security reasons, no soldier
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: who was released from service is allowed to see his
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: documents after the release. One of Russell's former associates found
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the floppy disk and read the content. One of the
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: entries he saw in the menu was the word murder.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: And he pressed the word murder with his mouse and
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: it appeared 26 steps, very detailed and archived steps, as
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Robert Peter Russell planned the murder of Captain Shirley Gibbs.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: Russell's plan clearly documented his intentions. The 20 steps were
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: a very informative piece of evidence that showed the state
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: of mind of the man, his willingness to even think
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: about murdering other people, let alone his wife. Step 1
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: is to break up on Thursday, January 18th, to Paris Island. Well,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: who's on Paris Island? Shirley Russell. Who let it look
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: like she had gone away. Well, that's exactly what he
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: tried when he murdered his wife. And the last thing
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: he says is that he should push her into his
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: shoes in his own way. This is a man who
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: clearly had the spiritual preconditions, the intention and the motivation
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: to do something like this. On February 8, 1991, the
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: computer file convinced the federal prosecutor to raise charges against
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Robert Peter Russell for murdering his wife, Captain Shirley Gibbs Russell. Ironically,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Russell was arrested in a prison. Did you just stop that?
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: He recently took a position as a drug advisor at
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: the Graterford State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania. But the prosecution
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: would not be easy. The US State Attorney Lawrence Leiser
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: had to put together all the clues like a mosaic.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Hopefully the jury would recognize the picture of a murderer.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: The US State Attorney and co-State Attorney Michael Rich was
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: at the preparation of the case against Russell. It was
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: clear that they had to rely on evidence. Many of
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: these evidence were the... the.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: The result of what Bobby Russell was... the disappearance of
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: his wife. In... never before had the federal government tried
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: to put someone on trial alone on the grounds of
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: evidence of first-degree murder. Im Prozess behauptete die Staatsanwaltschaft, Robert
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: Russell habe die Absicht gehabt, einen Mord zu begehen, als
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: er am 2. März die halbautomatische Raven im Kaliber. 20 kaufte.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: Klasse, wie viel?
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Mehrere seiner Kollegen berichteten, er habe ihnen gesagt, dass das Kaliber.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: 2225 eine perfekte Waffe sei. Es bleiben kaum Beweise zurück.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: Er sagte, es gebe so gut wie keine Blutspritzer und
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: die Kugel bleibe normalerweise im Körper stecken. Als Shirley ihm
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: am Samstag, dem 4. März, die Entlassungspapiere gab, weigerte er
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: sich zu unterschreiben. Kurz nach Mittag an diesem Tag, so
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: glaubte die Staatsanwaltschaft, habe sich Robert Russell in der Hütte
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: an Shirley herangeschlichen. He had to wait until the dawn
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: of the darkness before the corpse could be buried. To
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: create an alibi, he told a neighbor and a friend
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: of Shirley's that his wife had gone to the stock
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: market to buy paint. That's probably a good idea. At
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: 4 p.m. he went to Sandy Flynn's house and left
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: her her van. After the dawn of the darkness, he
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: wrapped Shirley's corpse in a blanket and laid it on
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: the back of the car. Her neighbor saw that she
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: was parked in the bushes. Then he drove with the
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: body on the back seat of the car four hours
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: to St. Clair, Pennsylvania. There he knew exactly where to go.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: There were hundreds of abandoned mines from which he could choose.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Then Robert Russell, who once swore as a member of
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the Marine Corps, had the honor to keep the body
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: of his wife in a mine shed. He threw dynamite
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: into it to bury the evidence under thousands of pounds
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: of stone. The swindlers were convinced. On May 3, 1991,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Robert Peter Russell was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: of his wife Shirley Gibbs Russell. Robert Russell was sentenced
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: to life imprisonment. There is no proof in the federal system.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: He will not leave the prison. Thank you.