Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Murder of Cheryl Springfield Part 1: Christmas Morning

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The Murder of Cheryl Springfield Part 1: Christmas Morning · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold podcast may contain violent or graphics subject matter. Listener discretion is
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advised. In the week leading into the Christmas of nineteen eighty, hardly a
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sign of the upcoming holiday could be found in popular culture. The song Lady
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by Kenny Rogers was number one on the Billboard Hot one hundred for the second
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week in a row. What can you get a Wookie for Christmas when he
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already owns a comb? From the Star Wars Christmas Album was the nearest holiday
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song all the way down at spot eighty one. Leading the box office were
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films like Stir Crazy starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, and Nine to five
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featuring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton. The prior month's release of
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the slasher film Christmas Evil could still be seen in a few theaters here and
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there, but was verrtu rtually the only holiday themed movie you'd find besides the
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similarly named but unconnected New Year's Evil. It was certainly a different world than
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it is today, a little less Christmas in your face, perhaps, but
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nonetheless the season was a time for joy, family and giving. But some
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things never change, as can be seen in a four or Star Telegram front
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page headline that read Christmas nineteen eighty Peace on Earth, It simply isn't so.
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The article referred to the ongoing war between Iran and Iraq, the battles
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being fought in Afghanistan that pitted the country against Russian invaders, and all out
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chaos in Lebanon as combat continued between militiamen Gorillas and the ironically named you N
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Peacekeepers, among others. As Israel's invasion continued. This spirit could be found
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and droves in the United States at the family level, of course, where
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it really seems to matter, and anyway that's far from the dangers of any
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battle. Things looked good from the outside looking in, at least, and
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though the working class and folks living beneath the poverty line tried their best to
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shield their kids from the world's problems, from humanity's worst, especially during the
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holidays, it wasn't easy. The country was rife with the conditions necessary for
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a far subtler danger than that occurring in the Middle East, one often unknown
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to many other than the victim and their loved ones. High unemployment, inflation,
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and a lingering uncertainty left behind by a severe recession earlier in the year
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were among them. Folks were still buying the Rubik's Cube for their kids,
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stocking sure, but US guns also peaked. As the violent crime rate continued
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to rise and rise steadily, fear was in the air. Sales of alarms
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and door locks were also through the roof Americans anxious about rising crime rate,
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one newspaper headline read at the time, and in Fort Worth, Texas,
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things were no different. Per capita. According to a survey conducted by the
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city's police department themselves, fort Worth fell only behind Atlanta, Georgia in major
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crimes such as robbery, rape, and murder. The prior year, the
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city was ranked fourth according to the FBI, but was also the United States
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city in which crime increased the most, above all others. Neighborhood crime watch
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block parties had become regular occurrences, and the feeling of unification helped quell residents,
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but the crime rate continued to rise unscathed, even as guest police officers
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instructed citizens on how to combat crime. A parade against crime organized by local
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minority groups on the city's south side was held in early December nineteen eighty.
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The route of which was chosen organizer Fami Sabri said to intimidate the city's criminals,
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most of whom were concentrated in that area. He said. In Fort
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Worth, crime was the topic of countless editorials and letters to the editor the
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entirety of nineteen eighty and into the following year, placing the blame on everything
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from poverty to the fact that the city's police pay rate was ranked the lowest
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among the fifteen departments in the Dallas Fort Worth Arlington metroplex. Both of those
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things, among so many other factors, undoubtedly contributed, and the holiday season
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always sees a rise in many types of serious and violent offenses. Some crimes,
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however, are senseless, the perpetrators opportunistic and perhaps impulsive, unaffected by
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things like quality and quantity of law enforcement officers when it comes time to strike.
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It's certainly doubtful the monster who murdered twenty one year old shery Lynn Tunnel
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Springfield on Christmas Day nineteen eighty had any such concerns. So it's been forty
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three years, and I promise you I'm still fished, and I was so
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higher focused on I've got to find out who did this it was like tunnel
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vision, Like I couldn't see anything else except I've got to figure this out,
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you know, I promised her, and I've got to figure this out.
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Cheryl Lynn Tunnel was born on September ninth, nineteen fifty nine, in
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Breckenridge, Texas, a small city about one hundred miles west of Fort Worth.
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Just eighteen months earlier, her sister Jan was born, who quickly took
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to calling Cheryl Sissy. Their mother, Patricia Anne Tunnel, or Pat as
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she was better known, became estranged from Jan and cheryl biological father early in
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the girls' lives, and their stepfather, J. C. Holmes stepped in
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as a father figure. The family lived on Fort Worth's south side growing up
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as young children. They grew up poor, but as kids they didn't really
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know it. Jan remembers her and Cheryl having a relatively normal childhood. We
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grew up off Seminary in Evans and went to Rosemont in the Carter Park.
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We were young and we were just doing what kids do you know, playing
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hanging out. We were just for typical kids. I mean literally, nothing
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did nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of the nothing. Just typical
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kids went outside didn't come back in until bark I mean, playing down at
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the creek, fishing for coddage, riding storm drains on a piece of cardboard,
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you know, riding bicycles, you know, just stuff. Fort Worth's
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crime rate at this time wasn't anywhere near the staggeringly high level it would reach
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in the nineteen seventies and continued to rise throughout most of the nineteen eighties.
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Like most children and teenagers in a time before cell phones and a twenty four
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hour news cycle and with two working parents, Cheryl and Jan generally stayed out
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playing with friends until sundown. When they neared middle school age, the family
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moved to Crowley, Texas, a small city just south of Fort Worth.
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There, a sibling rivalry that had begun years before continued unabated, and perhaps
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worsened as Cheryl and Jan dealt with the emotional growing pains that accompany adolescents.
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Grows are vicious. I mean they are, they can be scrappy, and
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it didn't take much, I mean taking each other's foes and just I mean
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it was a war zone it our house. I am not gonna lie.
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It's astonishing in fact that the epic fights but between Jen and Cheryl aren't the
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stuff of a legend. Let me tell you what the little shit did to
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me one time. She's done more. Not that it's funny now, but
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at the time, Bob. She called me one time from Center's palace and
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said, I'm stuck up here. I need to ride home. Okay,
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let me know how you said we're gonna sellshoes back then. So I get
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my ass in the car and I drove all the words and stilly to put
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work here, and she's gone and I get back home. She's in bed
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because she got to ride home. So the fountain's on. And then I
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showed her to spend your corner with me one time because because she wanted to
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go. So she gets on the payphon. My dad's got me in a
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bar and I'm under age. I'm gonna feat your ass and I get you
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home. Then once time I'm in the bathroom, she's like, come a
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you going there? Wi? And that's used to go to smoke. I
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said, Okay, I was such a dumb as chows it m gent smoking
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in the bathroom where the pots started. So I mean I did chip to
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her too, don't get me wrong. I go in there and smack her
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in the hen and run, you know, shut the door so she couldn't
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get do me. I mean it was it was constant, so, I
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mean it was your And now that I think back on it is just siblings.
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I guess I don't know whose family has siblings that get along and play
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together and hold hands and fissy kissy. That was not us. We were
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the original gangsters. Cheryl and Jan were at the opposite ends of the pop
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cultural spectrum in a way. Jan was more of the hippie type and Cheryl
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a preppy member of the future Homemakers of America, which definitely didn't do their
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ability to get along any favors. She was your little talent at dang,
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you know, and I was your little hippie kids. So two different directions.
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So she was in school doing talent that stuff, and I was running
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at the lake at the cake party. But there were plenty of good times
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to go with the rivalry, and in fact, they were the only ones
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allowed to cross each other. If you screwed with one sister, you screwed
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with both, and it was a sure thing you'd be sorry for doing it.
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During one of their bar hopping trips, to fort Worth, Cheryl Lynn
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Tunnel and her big sister Jan ended up at a bar called Spencer's Corner,
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one of a few local night spots owned by Spencer Taylor, the guy who'd
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later become a huge deal for opening up the world's largest honky Tonk Billy Bob's
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in the fort Worth Stockyards. The drinking age in Texas was eighteen at the
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time, so getting away with underage drinking at a bar near the city's major
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university wasn't difficult, especially if you had a big sister. Spencer's Corner featured
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local rock and roll bands. It was there that Cheryl met Leon Scott Springfield,
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who went by his middle name Long story short. Cheryl Tunnel and Scott
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began a whirlwind romance, and the day before her eighteenth birthday, on September
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eighth, nineteen seventy seven, she became Cheryl Springfield. Scott had just turned
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twenty a few months before. In February of nineteen seventy eight, the young
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couple welcomed Scott Allen Springfield into their lives or Scottie. Cheryl graduated from Crowley
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High the following may. Becoming parents at such an early age was a big
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responsibility. Both were good parents, but Scott's immature side kicked in. He
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and Cheryl still got along well, but he was having second thoughts about settling
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down, so they split up and then divorced. By December of nineteen eighty,
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Cheryl Lynn Tunnel Springfield was living with another young mother, her ex husband's
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sister, Cindy. Her little girl, Christie was eighteen months old. A
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couple teenaged girls were also living there, though exactly who and the exact situation
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isn't entirely clear. Unfortunately. The house was located on the thirty three hundred
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block of Whittier Street in fort Worth's South Hills neighborhood. South Hills as a
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kind of city suburbia, was built up primarily in the nineteen fifties and nineteen
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sixties. The small, affordable homes catered to fort Worth's working class. This
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particular house was where Scott and Cindy Springfield had grown up their parents. The
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owners had vacated it after their divorce, speaking of which, not too terribly
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long after Cheryl and Scott's divorce was finalized, something knocked some since back into
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Scott. He loved Cheryl and Scottie and knew he'd messed up. Scott began
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trying to reconcile. Cheryl was more than willing to forgive his fleeting moment of
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irresponsibility, especially since she loved being a mother and placed a high value on
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the idea of a family. But she was also a spitfire and not one
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to let things go without making a point, so it's likely she was making
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Scott sweat a little. Christmas was approaching anyway, and both Cheryl and Scott
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wanted it to be special for Scottie. They wanted to wake up as a
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family. Scotty was approaching three years old and at the age where he'd begun
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to pick up on what was happening under the big lit up tree that appeared
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out of nowhere in the living room. So for the first time on Christmas
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Eve, Cheryl and little Skins Scott went to her mother's place and celebrated.
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The nineteen eighty holiday was unusual for several different reasons, including the fact that
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Cheryl's sister Jan had followed a boy to California and wasn't there for the festivities.
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Though Pat tried to talk Cheryl into staying the night, so she and
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Scotty could wake up there, Cheryl wasn't having it. Pat dropped her off
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at home on Whittier Street at about ten pm and watched Cheryl unlock the door
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and go inside before driving off. Her roommate, Cindy, and the others
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who lived there at that point left, some perhaps to spend Christmas with their
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families, and some to go out partying. It's another detail that, again,
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unfortunately isn't necessarily clear. Whatever the case, not only was Cheryl responsible
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for Scotty at that point, but also Cindy's little girl, Christy. A
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couple hours later, not long after midnight, the children were presumably asleep,
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and Cheryl and Scott discussed their plans over the telephone. Scott was staying about
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five blocks away from his old family home, and at about six in the
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morning, he and Cheryl decided he'd walk over with the big gift he'd gotten
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Scotty and get it under the Christmas tree before the boy woke up. It
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was a big Wheel, a bright colored, rugged plastic three wheeled pedal vehicle
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available in many popular styles of any given year in nineteen eighty that could have
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been anything from the then hit television cop show chips to the original style already
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in icon in and of itself. They hung up, and about six hours
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later Scott Springfield woke up, grabbed Scotty's big gift and headed out on foot
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toward the Whittier Street house, ready for Christmas morning with his son and the
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young woman. He was desperately attempting to win back that Christmas Eve, and
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into the late hours of the night, emergency medical technician or EMT, John
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Watson, almost a year on the job, and his partner, were hammered
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with calls from dispatch. It was a particularly hectic night, John said.
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Toward the end of their shift, not long after six am, they got
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a signal twelve code for possible to cease to person. Just minutes earlier,
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at six fifteen am, Scott Springfield had arrived to spend Christmas morning with his
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ex wife Cheryl and their son Scottie. He let himself in with the key
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he'd had nearly all his life, but would later say he couldn't be sure
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if the door had even been locked when he turned the key. As he
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opened the door, Scott heard the cries of his son. The house was
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dark. The Christmas tree was the only source of light, and that light
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glowed off the clutter in the unkempt house. As he headed toward Little Scottie,
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a nude woman laying beside the Christmas tree caught his eye. Everyone in
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the house was known to party, some, especially the two teenaged girls who
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didn't have the responsibilities of motherhood that Cheryl and Cindy had. Scott smirked and
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shook his head, thinking to himself one of the girls had a few too
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many shots of whiskey or whatever and passed out there. He continued down the
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hall. When he got to Cheryl. In Little Scottie's room, he saw
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his boy sitting up bawling, but there was no sign of his ex wife,
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who usually slept in a bed right alongside him. It immediately clicked in
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his head. Scott raced back to the living room. The unclothed figure beside
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the Christmas tree was Cheryl. A cloth electrical cord was wrapped and tied tightly
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around her neck. Scott leaned down and touched the cord, a psychological response,
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perhaps as his brain weighed whether or not what was happening was real.
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At the very moment he did, Scott snapped out of the mental misfire and
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realized he shouldn't be touching anything. He backed away and quickly called the Fort
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Worth Police EMT. John Watson and his colleague arrived at the scene, having
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turned off the ambulance sirens and lights when dispatch told them it was a signal
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twelve, which was standard protocol. A few patrol cars were already on the
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scene when they pulled up, John told us and the house was dark as
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he met an officer on the porch, the Christmas tree still the only source
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of light. The policeman directed him to Cheryl's body and the EMT. He
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quickly noticed how quiet everything seemed as he made his way to Cheryl. He
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wondered if the quiet was because the rest of the night had been so chaotic.
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John quickly determined there was no reason to perform resuscitation efforts, and he
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and his partner properly documented such. They made as little disturbance and remained on
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the scene no longer than was necessary, cleared the call and left. At
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least one newspaper article at the time reports a possible knife wound on Cheryl's leg,
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though EMT John Watson remembers the scene as virtually free of Blood. Officials
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with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office followed closely behind. The EMTs, inspected
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the scene and transported the body of Cheryl Lynn Tunnel Springfield to undergo an autopsy.
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Scott Springfield did his best to shield little Scottie from the brutal murder of
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his mother, but it was almost as impossible to hide his poor emotional state
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as it was to hide the fact that Cheryl wasn't there. The victim's mother,
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Pat could hardily bear the news, and of course had to call Jan
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in California to tell her I was the guy was dating. Came in there
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and said, you need to get up. Your mom's on the phone.
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I said what he said, you need to get your mom's on the phone.
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I'm standing there, and I picked up the phone and the only thing
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I remember is her screaming in the phone, your sister's been murdered. And
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then the next thing I knew, I was sitting in a chair, and
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right after that, I was on plane back home, and that's literally all
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I remember. Jen quickly made her way back to Texas and what followed would
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go on to define her for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, the
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police began to investigate. While the newspaper reported that Cheryl may have been sexually
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abused was attributed to the police. It seems clear reporters were desperately trying to
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sensationalize the murder. Likely it was the result of a complex question presented to
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a detective who probably responded to the reporter with a one or two word answer.
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Either way, the only thing made public from Terrant County Deputy Medical Examiner
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doctor Mark Kraus's autopsy was that Cheryl Lynn Tunnel Springfield died as the result of
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asphyxiation by ligature strangulation at the scene of the crime. The Fort Worth police
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were having trouble determining how big at struggle took place since the home was in
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a state of disarray, simply for the fact that too young women, two
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teenaged girls, and two toddlers all lived under the same roof of the eight
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hundred and twelve square foot house. There were no major signs of an intense
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fight, or at least that's what detectives alluded to when speaking to the press.
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Cheryl's sister, Jan however, knew that her sister fought like hell,
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I know my sister I know how she fights. I have thought her.
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I mean, I know she could fight. I mean she was a scraper.
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I can promise you whoever killed her he had to hear fight for it.
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Still, the cops continued to work under the assumption it appears that a
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great struggle had not taken place, and the lack of forced entry they thought
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suggested Cheryl knew her killer. The motive was perhaps personal, since nothing of
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value appeared to have been taken from the scene. As is the case with
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every homicide, those closest to the victim and often the person who finds the
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body becomes a primary focus. Twenty three year old Scott Springfield was both of
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these things. He could have easily been theorized to be involved in Cheryl's slang,
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especially considering their recent divorce, but the fact was Scott and Cheryl got
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along just fine even after their divorce and were on track to get back together.
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He was eventually eliminated for several reasons, the first presumably being his alibi.
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Scott also fully cooperated with the investigation, and he was not the person
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neighbors had witnessed at the front door speaking with a Cheryl at two am.
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The neighbor who witnessed this important event in the investigation was unable to provide the
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police with a decent description of this person, but they knew it wasn't Scott.
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Scott Springfield is often reported in later articles as having been eliminated quickly,
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but the fact is he was scrutinized deeply and underwent multiple polygraph examinations, all
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of which apparently showed no signs of deception. On Monday, December twenty ninth,
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nineteen eighty, funeral services were held for Chryl Tunnel Springfield at Bombgarner Chapel
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in Crowley. The Reverend Edward E. Evans led the service. A lot
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of folks came to pay their respect as JC and Pat Cheryl's parents tried to
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contain their sadness. Lots of people, lots of clients, you know,
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lots lots of years, lots of crime. But then I don't, you
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know, it's just like I'm detached from it. You know, I'm nember
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sitting there thinking this is so fucked up, you know, and my mom
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and my dad that races from the time I was about seven. I mean,
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this guy was he weren't my thirteen ring on a sinky finger, and
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he was a roofer and could throw bundles of wooden shingos on roosts. And
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he was just broken. I mean just I don't know how my mother,
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now that I have kiss ever, was able to even live, just to
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even function. She never talked about it, never talked about it. Jan,
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perhaps in a subconscious effort to keep the anguish of losing her little sister
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out, stewed with anger as the somber tones of the church organ droned and
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reverberated off the walls. Earlier, as Cheryl laid in the light blue cloth
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covered casket, chosen by her mother because she thought it made her daughter look
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warm, Jan approached. She inspected her sister, lifting her blue and white
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turtleneck sweater to see the mark left by the iron cord used as strangle Cheryl.
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She saw the stitched incisions from the autopsy, felt the stitches on the
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back of her sister's head. Jen placed her hand over Cheryl's and as she
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moved her fingers over the wrinkles left by death and not as the result of
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growing old, she made Sissy a promise. And then when I got here,
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I remember pulling down the cow neck on her sweater and you could see
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the imprint of the iron cord. And I remember wasting my thyme and wiping
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the makeup off on the side of her face with her chicken pox scaria because
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it was so hard to realize it was her, and then holding her hand
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and telling her, you know, I'm going to find out who did this,
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I promise, and you know it was just it was messed up,
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so messed up. Cheryl was laid to rest at Breckenridge Cemetery in Kenridge,
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Texas, where she was born. Coming up on Gone Cold, Jans continued
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push for justice for her sister, but first Barry Dean Kelly. If you
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have any information about the Christmas Day murder of Sheryl Lynn Tunnel Springfield Police,
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contact the fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at eight one seven three nine two
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four three zero eight, or you can email the tip to cold case at
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fort worthpd dot com. We'll link to both contacts in the show notes.
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We'd like to thank Jan for her help and contributions to this episode, and
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thank John Watson for speaking with us about his experience. If you like Gone
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Cold's mission to raise awareness for unsolved homicides, missing persons cases and other mysteries
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