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Bridgette Gearen Part 2: The Men in the Dark Car · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold. Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter. Listener discretion
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is advised. Nearly a year after the brutal killing of Bridget len Geeren,
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investigators for the Galveston County Sheriff's Office remained frustrated at the lack of solid leads.
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Within a couple weeks of the twenty eight year old legal secretary's body being
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found at the water's edge of Crystal Beach, Texas, around only one hundred
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yards from where she was last seen alive, the department announced a huge development
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someone had come forward with information the night of the terrible crime. At around
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midnight on July fifteenth, two thousand seven, a group of witnesses sitting waterside
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at a small bonfire noticed a woman walking close by. A small or medium
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sized, dark colored suv pulled up next to her, blocking the witness's view.
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Between the sand and the vehicles undercarriage. They could see feet and legs,
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and whatever was happening appeared to be some sort of confrontation. The woman
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walked away, moving toward the beach, and when she got about fifty feet
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from it, the suv again pulled up beside her. Witnesses heard a woman's
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scream and again saw something happening behind the dark colored vehicle. Like before,
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they could make out legs and shadows moving around on the other side, but
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that's it. The suv sped off and the woman was gone. Later,
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these witnesses saw the same vehicle speeding back past them from the direction in which
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it had originally driven off. Before news came out about Bridget Gearin's violent sexual
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assault and murder, the witnesses didn't think what they saw was anything more than
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some sort of domestic squabble, perhaps an alcohol fueled fight that had gotten out
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of hand. And after all, they couldn't see if the woman ended up
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getting into the dark colored suv of her own free will or if she was
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forced. It was obvious to Sheriff's Lieutenant Tommy Hanson that the woman Bridget was
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abducted. Either way, she was found on the beach the next morning dead.
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The savage and egregious violence used in the perpetration of the act had many
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of the department's most experienced investigators waking up in the middle of the night in
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a cold sweat, But a year later, after countless sleepless nights, the
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case's lead investigator was still struggling to find the missing pieces. Bridget's case haunted
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Lieutenant Hanson, the thirty year Sheriff's office veteran, called the murder the most
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brutal and horrific he'd ever worked, and he was keeping it extremely active.
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Hanson was ready to put an end to the case, he said, just
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as a solid lead looked like it was in the cards. However, mother
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nature dealt a devastating and merciless hand. In the year following the murder of
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twenty eight year old Bridget, gearin Galveston and Southeast Texas newspapers reflected the investigation's
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slow movement as far as breakthroughs by the lack of coverage. Bridget's name was
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seldom found outside of reward advertisements, letters to the Galveston Daily News editor about
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installing surveillance cameras on the beaches, and articles detailing the many teenaged girls and
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women who were missing or murdered in the area over several decades, the interstate
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forty five murders, also known as the Texas Killing Fields. Galveston County investigators
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did not believe Bridget's case was connected to that series of crimes, most of
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which are likely not connected to one another themselves, as he managed other homicides,
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namely the discovery of the batterly decomposed body of a child authorities named Baby
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Grace in a storage bin in Galveston Bay. Lieutenant Tommy Hansen's attention was diverted
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from Bridget's case, though never taken away. Baby Grace was identified within two
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weeks as two year old Riley Anne Sawyers, who had been beaten to death
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by her mother and stepfather months earlier. They were fortunately brought to justice almost
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as soon as little Riley Anne was identified. In Bridget Geeran's case, the
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investigation of the dark colored suv and what witnesses had seen transpire had allowed the
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cops to eliminate many folks as suspects. It also led to persons of interest,
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most who were cleared of involvement in no time by way of alibi.
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Some of them had been identified as the result of tips Bridget's violent sexual assault
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and brutal death. They'd identified a couple hundred of these persons of interest at
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the one year mark, so there was still plenty of work to be done.
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Pictures and videos taken the weekend of the murder and shared with the Department
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by beachgoers hadn't helped the investigation, at least not much. They continued to
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ask the public for more. The fact that the witnesses were potentially vacationers made
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the task difficult and daunting. The investigation, logistically speaking, had been a
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nightmare, but as they whittled down the significant list of potential suspects, devastations
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struck and the investigation hit even more roadblocks. On Wednesday, September ten,
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two thousand and eight, mandatory evacuation orders were given for several counties in southeast
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Texas along and around the coastline, including Galveston, Jefferson, Orange, and
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Chambers Counties. Hurricane Ike was to make landfall soon. Those who stayed behind,
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in particular parts of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, the National Weather Service
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advised, faced certain death, But as more than a million folks left the
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area ahead of the torrential storm, more than one hundred and forty thousand remained.
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As the four hundred and twenty five mile diameter Ike approached the shores of
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Texas, it had been strengthened by the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico
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and as its eye made landfall in the early morning hours of September thirteenth,
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two thousand and eight. The category two hurricanes one hundred and ten mile per
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hour or winds shredded whatever stood in its path. Homes and businesses were leveled
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in the coastline counties and beyond. The Boulevar Peninsula was submerged by the tides
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Hurricane Ike brought Crystal Beach was decimated. The Galveston County Sheriff's decision not to
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evacuate the jail's one thousand inmates and three hundred guards resulted in long controversy.
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A majority of those inmates had yet to be convicted of any crime, and
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those who had, for the most part, had only committed minor offenses,
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making the decision even more steeped in outrage. Luckily, no one at the
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jail was killed during the storm. Seventy four Texans, however, weren't so
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lucky. When everything settled, The toll on human life within Texas and beyond
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was Disastrousthough around three hundred people were reported missing by major media outlets, the
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Government Accountability Project suggested the number was closer to six hundred and eighty three Some
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were never recovered, although exactly how many is a difficult number to identify.
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Ecosystems in Texas also saw near irreparable damage, including oyster reefs at sea and
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Salt Marsh's landward. The priceless ecosystem and human loss, along with the estimated
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twenty nine billion dollars in property damage, were not the only costs of Hurricane
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Ike for Texas. It also took a huge toll on the investigation of the
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murder of bridget Gearin, since there was overwhelming rebuilding to be done along Texas's
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coast in the wake of one of the state's costliest and deadliest storms on record.
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Several other effects remained unreported, though it isn't clear if he knew the
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totality of what was lost in Hurricane Ike. Galveston County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Tommy
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Hansen would later comment that potential evidence in bridget Gearon's case might have washed away,
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forever lost to the elements. Since the department was playing their cards close
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to the chest, it's impossible at this time to know if the investigator was
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speaking of something specific or if he meant evidence they didn't yet have. Nearly
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the entirety of Crystal Beach was completely destroyed, so it's certainly possible that undiscovered
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clues had been as well. It was as if Mother Nature had been working
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against the investigation from the get go. On the morning Bridget's body was found,
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a heavy rainstorm that came through likely also washed evidence away. But because
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of the evacuation of a majority of the area residents, because many folks had
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no home to come back to, Lieutenant Hanson's main concern was this, the
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scattering of witnesses and potential suspects across Texas and even the United States, regardless
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after two years had passed since the murder of Bridget, Geeran Hanson announced a
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big lead. On the two year anniversary of Bridget's murder July fifteenth, two
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thousand and nine, Lieutenant Tommy Hanson of the Galveston County Sheriff's Office contradicted what
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Major Ray Tutelamondo had been recently saying. According to the lead investigator, a
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line of inquiry they'd been quietly working for eight months had led them to at
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least two suspects. Later, the Lieutenant would refer to the group of suspects
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as several all men, he said. Hanson said they may have been at
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the right place at the right time to make a connection to Bridget's murder.
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He hadn't interviewed them yet, but Lieutenant Hanson did say investigators had been out
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of state, talking to sources and holding interviews. Evidence was gathered and sent
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to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab not long after the crime took
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place, but two years in there were no results. Exactly what evidence was
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never expounded upon, but Hanson remained hopeful it would give them answers and said
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it could possibly break the case wide open, again suggesting there were more than
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two they believed were involved. The lawman said all but one of the suspects
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were from out of state, they didn't know Bridget, and they all took
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part in the horrific crime in some way. He suggested the out of staters
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possibly hooked up with a person from the Crystal Beach area, a person who
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had left town during Hurricane Ike, but who they also had kept tabs on
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in his new living place. Eventually, it became clear that the Galveston County
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Sheriff's Office was looking for four men total, perhaps giving insight into how and
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why Bridget's rape and murder had been so violent and brutal. Lieutenant Tommy Hanson
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refused to retire until the men who killed her were brought to justice, and
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he felt good about the current lead he and his investigators were pursuing. It
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was the strongest yet. Little did Hanson know he'd be following that lead for
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the next fifteen years. The news of this big lead fizzled out. Lieutenant
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Hanson did retire in twenty ten, though he stayed on at the Sheriff's office
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to investigate cold cases, including Bridget gear Ins, but also several others,
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most of which he'd have a heavy hand and eventually solving. After three long
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years had passed since Bridget's murder. Texas State Representative craig Eland of Galveston contacted
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the Department of Public Safety in August of twenty ten at the request of the
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Gear and family. Earlier that year, Galveston County sent more evidence from the
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Bridget gear In case to add to evidence they'd sent the year before, and
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also evidence they had submitted three years before. Lieutenant Hanson needed that evidence to
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go through before he could proceed. News reports faded into obscurity and Whether or
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not the evidence led to anything substantive, or if it was ever even tested
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at all, is something of a mystery. It would be three more years
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still until an update in the case came. In July twenty thirteen, Lieutenant
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Tommy Hanson announced that the suspect in Bridget Gearan's case, the one from the
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area, had been arrested on unrelated charges. For years, investigators had been
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keeping tabs on the dark colored suv they believed was used in the twenty eight
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year old mother's abduction. The four men involved had also been watched closely,
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Lieutenant Hanson added, and now there were only three to surveil. All four
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men were in their twenties at the time. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office was
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coming for them, the lieutenant told a Houston Chronicle reporter, and they knew
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it. It was only a matter of time. The suspect being held in
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connection with another case wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Ooon Bridget's family was relieved.
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At least one of the men was behind bars, where investigators could visit
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any time they wanted, and most of all, where he couldn't hurt anyone
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else. The father of Bridget's child, Brandon told a Channel twelve news reporter
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they needed to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. He'd been
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raising their daughter, Kira, and though she often expressed her sadness over her
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mother's death, Brandon said Kyra was doing good, but it didn't change the
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fact that their lives had been forever altered by this heinous, unforgivable act.
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He'd feel much better, Brandon said, when the trial was over. Another
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year passed. In April of twenty fourteen, Lieutenant Hanson once again said they
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were very close to bringing charges against all four of the men. The lawman
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had been building the case case carefully and meticulously, he said, and had
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gotten several breaks over the last year in the form of interviews and other unnamed
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evidence. The Lieutenant was almost ready to bring it to the Galveston County District
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Attorney's office. By twenty fifteen. The frustration expressed by Bridget Geheran's loved ones
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in news reports was palpable. Somebody needs to pay for this. Her mother,
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Pamela, said somebody is getting away with murder, and that somebody would.
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For another three years. In twenty eighteen, eleven years after Bridget Gheran's
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murder, Lieutenant Tommy Hansen was still on the case, still refusing to fully
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retire until the killers were brought to justice. He'd written thousands of pages of
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reports, he said, developed hundreds of leads, and traveled across the country.
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The amount of work that's gone into the investigation was beyond anything he'd ever
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conceived or worked, the lieutenant added. In May of twenty eighteen, Hanson
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explained to a reporter that he'd recently turned over new evidence to the Galveston County
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District Attorney. It was the best shot the lawmen, commented at making an
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arrest. On the eleventh anniversary. In July, Lieutenant Hanson told the Port
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Arthur News that of his four suspects, one was still in prison, one
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had since died, and as far as the other two, there were new
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developments pending. At the time, they were still working on it. Hanson
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scattered hints about those new developments in his comments to the reporter. In a
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cold case, unless the key witness dies, he remarked, time is on
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the investigator's side. They soften as they get older and have children and then
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grandkids. Hanson suggested he'd been told to go to hell while questioning someone in
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the past, only to have a productive conversation with that person later on.
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Even as Lieutenant Hansen's determination and positivity hadn't wavered, Bridget Gearon's mother, Pamela,
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said she'd lost hope. Having been strung along for several years, Pamela
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had little faith the Galveston County Sheriff's Office would ever make an arrest in her
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daughter's case. She hadn't spoken much to the media since Bridget's death, understandably
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the pain was simply too acute, but she was beginning to come around,
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and the story she told a reporter, somehow still obscure and rarely referenced since,
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was shocking to Poort Arthur News reporter Mary Moe. In July of twenty
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eighteen, Pamela Geron relate a story she'd come to know well, one she'd
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been told many times in the eleven years since her daughter's tortuous and cold blooded
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murder. The story goes something like this. A woman was among a group
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of people partying around a bonfire on the beach the night of Saturday, July
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fourteenth, two thousand and seven, and into the fifteenth, there were quite
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a few people there, a subjective or perhaps relative statement that unfortunately doesn't provide
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much context in this case. Suddenly, the woman heard screaming. She turned
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her head toward the commotion and saw a dark colored suv. The woman's boyfriend,
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according to this story, was driving, but he wasn't the only person
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involved. She saw two other men who she also recognized and knew. The
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woman apparently knew them all, or at least three out of the four individuals
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the cops believe were responsible for sexually assaulting and killing Bridget. The vehicle sped
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off, and after it did, this woman walked over to where it had
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been. She saw Bridget's body, bloodied and beaten. After realizing the men
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who killed Bridget Gearin knew she had seen them, this woman said she quickly
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left. The state, which was related in the article in a confusing way,
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left more questions than potential answers. Since Bridget's body was found about one
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hundred yards from where she was last seen alive, it's important to keep in
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mind that this bonfire would have to be a different one than the bonfire near
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the witnesses who had seen the apparent abduction unless investigators had been purposefully disseminating false
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information for more than a decade. Aid Perhaps it's a true account, or
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perhaps it's an amalgamation of the story the abduction witnesses told and something else entirely
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later. The article says the woman was arrested on unrelated charges, and later,
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still after kicking a drug habit, she changed her story. Whether that
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means she recanted seeing anything altogether, we don't know. Five years after Lieutenant
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Tommy Hansen submitted new evidence to the District attorney and sixteen years after Bridget Gearan's
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murder, the lawman described the case as an old case, not a cold
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case, in a May three kf DMTV report. After serving nearly fifty years
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with the Galveston County Sheriff's Office and after being semi retired for thirteen, Hansen
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still refused to give up on bringing Bridget's killers to justice. Successfully brought a
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number of the other cases that haunted him to a close. In nineteen ninety
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one, a man named Luis Mahanno Calderone slashed Diane Sanchez's broat and left her
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for dead among the tall weeds along Interstate forty five. He'd been on the
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run ever since. Lieutenant Hanson tracked Calderon to El Salvador, where he had
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long established roots and a family. The fifty six year old man was extradited
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back to Galveston County and charged after nearly thirty years. In twenty twelve,
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after exhuming the body of Ellen Ray Beeson for the second time, Lieutenant Tommy
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Hanson and FBI special agent Richard Renison were able to get her cause of death
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changed to homicide. The following year, they arrested Clyde Edwin Hedrick, a
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now infamous killer connected to the Texas Killing Fields. He was eventually convicted of
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manslaughter in Ellen Beeson's case because in nineteen eighty four it was investigated as an
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accident and not a murder, and evidence to prove such was insufficient. For
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all of Lieutenant Hanson's successes, resolution to bridget Geeran's case continued to elude him.
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He called Galveston County Houston's playground, a place where folks from out of
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town are always around. Whether they're in the area for temporary oil work or
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as a tourist. They come here doing whatever it is they do, Hanson
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said, then they leave It's the reason Bridget's case had been so tough to
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crack, second only to the elements washing away evidence. In twenty twenty three,
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Bridget's aunt Lisa told a reporter that she worried about her killer or killers
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being left out on the streets free to harm or murder other women. After
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all, it had been more than one and a half decades her loving,
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quirky and beautiful niece, Lisa said, would likely have her own law firm
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now sixteen years later, had she lived. Lieutenant Hanson had what he called
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a dynamic development that had come about in the prior eight months, he said,
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but the ebbs and flows in hope the family had experienced over the years
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were exhausting. It was hard for them to believe anything was going to happen.
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Another year passed, then, at the beginning of April twenty twenty four,
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another news story appeared out of nowhere, announcing again that new evidence would
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lead to an arrest. Bridget's loved ones were not holding their breath. Brandon,
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the father of Bridget's child Kira, said he was tired of hearing an
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arrest was eminent, only for another year to go by with nothing happening at
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all. It had been going on every year since twenty thirteen. In twenty
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eleven, when Kira was only six years old, she said she missed her
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mother very much and asked for someone who knew something to tell police so the
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bad guys could be punished. She missed her mama's love, Kira added.
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Bridget's mother, Pamela, who mostly kept to her house after her daughter's brutal
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murder, wants to know why her baby's life had to be taken. Though
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their hopes have been continually dashed, it's likely that some remains buried deep beneath
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the grief. It's publicly unknown what evidence the Galveston County Sheriff's Office has collected
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over the years, but each time something new was uncovered, which has happened
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repeatedly for more than a decade now, it was reported as evidence that was
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supposed to to break the case, but it hasn't yet. If you have
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any information about the two thousand and seven murder of Bridget Lynn Gearn, please
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contact the Galveston County Sheriff's Office at four zero nine seven sixty six two three
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zero zero or eight sixty six two four eight eight four seven seven. If
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