Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
1,936
pages
in: Michigan, 1987, Murder,
and 4 more

Elmer DeBoer

Edit
Elmer deboer

Elmer DeBoer

Real Name: Elmer Dell DeBoer
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Waterford Township, Michigan
Date: May 11, 1987

Case[]

Details: Thirty-eight-year-old Elmer DeBoer was a gas station courier and a married father of three. He had worked for Leemon Oil Company for seven years. At 11am on May 11, 1987, the police were called to a gas station near Pontiac, Michigan, after it was found deserted. They forced the office door open and discovered an empty safe. Two people were missing: Elmer, who was carrying $10,000, and Missy Munday, the assistant manager.
The following day, the police found Elmer's body in the woods outside Pontiac. He had been handcuffed and shot twice in the back of the head. The police called it a "cold-blooded execution" and wondered what connection Missy could have had with the brutal slaying.
What happened to Missy is a bizarre story of love and violence in rural America. No one has heard from her since the day of the murder. The police and her parents need to talk to her.
This is the story of the fatal attraction between Missy, an innocent fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, and Jerry Strickland, a twenty-four-year-old criminal who had served time for assault and rape. According to the police, their ill-fated love affair eventually ended in robbery, kidnapping, and murder.
The mystery begins in 1985 in the small town of Hancock, Maryland. Missy was the youngest of four siblings. She attended the local high school, where she was an honor student and Future Homemakers of America member. She was also on the junior varsity basketball team and was in the school choir.
According to Vice Principal Harlan Kerns, Missy was in the top 10% of her class. She enjoyed what she was doing and got along well with others. Based on how she was at school, he believed everything was "satisfactory" with her.
Missy's mother, Phyllis Munday, describes her as shy. According to Phyllis, Missy would either go to her basketball games, choir practice, or a couple of ball games. But her parents always knew where she was. When she was finished, she would call them, and they would pick her up and bring her home.
In 1985, Jerry arrived in the area. He said he was looking for a property to convert into an orphanage. He called on Missy's family, asking about the ownership of a nearby house. When Phyllis first met him, she thought he was a "smooth talker" based on his actions and how he talked. She felt he was demanding. She did not care for his attitude.
Missy, however, was intrigued by Jerry. Her first glimpse of him was the beginning of a relationship that would change her life forever. According to a friend, Susie Walls, Missy liked Jerry a lot. Every time he came to visit, he brought her a gift. Susie claims he gave Missy a lot of attention she did not get at home.
According to another friend, Tammy Sipes, Missy often went out with Jerry in the evening. She would tell Phyllis she got home late. When Phyllis would ask who she was with, she would lie and say she was with a friend. Soon, she began to sneak out of her house regularly to see him. He told her he had a tragic past and said his first wife and child had died in a terrible car accident. Missy was swept off her feet.
According to Phyllis, Missy had "boy crushes" and childhood sweethearts. But she never told Phyllis that she was going out with any boys. So, Phyllis did not think she was that interested in them. Later on, Phyllis was surprised when she found out that Missy and Jerry had been dating.
At one point, Missy told Phyllis she had bought a ring as a souvenir. Phyllis later found out that Jerry had given her the ring. But at the time, Phyllis believed her because she had never lied to her before. And that is why Phyllis never imagined that Missy would do what she did next.
On the morning of Thursday, April 17, 1986, Missy left home to catch the school bus as usual. It is a day Phyllis will never forget. Missy said, "I'm going to school now. I'll see you this evening." That was the last thing she ever said to Phyllis. She never went to school that day. Instead, a bus driver saw her get into Jerry's car. She and Jerry then left the state.
When Phyllis learned what happened, she could not believe it. She did not think Missy was that kind of person. She felt she knew what kind of person Missy was since she raised her. She said, "It was just a big change in that one day when she just left."
Even as Missy was driving away from her home and her family, she still did not know the truth about Jerry. His first wife and child had not died in a car wreck; they were still alive. He had been passing bad checks around Hancock and had a prison record in West Virginia.
Jerry had been convicted of malicious assault and grand larceny. He had raped his sister-in-law, cut her throat, and left her for dead. He was paroled in January 1985, not long before he showed up at Missy's home.
After leaving Hancock, Missy and Jerry went to Centerville, Virginia. Then, in August 1986, they settled in an apartment in Springfield Township, Michigan, just outside Detroit. Even though she gave birth to a son, Jamie, she never told her family where she was living. She last wrote to them around Mother's Day, 1986. She told them she ran off with Jerry because she knew they would not let her be with him. She also told them not to worry about her.
Missy told her friend, Sheri Nix, that she was unhappy at her Hancock home and did not care about anyone there except her older brother and grandfather. She said she was with Jerry because he took her away from home. Sheri never saw Missy and Jerry kiss, hold hands, or touch. She thought that was strange. She asked Missy about it once, and Missy said Jerry was not very affectionate.
To help make ends meet, Missy took a job as the assistant manager at the Union 76 gas station on Dixie Highway in Waterford Township, Michigan. When she applied for the position, she used the name "Melissa Strickland" and claimed she was nineteen.
While there, Missy met Elmer. He picked up cash receipts from local gas stations. He and Missy became close friends. According to Sheri, he understood that Missy was going through a rough time, being married to Jerry and not having anything for Jamie. Sheri describes Elmer as understanding and loving.
On the morning of Monday, May 11, 1987, Elmer came by, as usual, to pick up the cash from the station where Missy worked. He was near the end of his route. She was the attendant on duty at the time. One hour later, at 11am, customers found the station deserted. When the police arrived, they found Elmer's car in the parking lot. The office was locked.
The police checked the interior of the station and found no one inside. However, the safe had been opened, and an excess of $10,000 was missing. At around 1pm the next day, Elmer's body was found in a marshy field next to a lake in Rose Township, twenty miles from the station. He had been handcuffed and shot twice in the back of the head at close range. Residents who lived nearby reported hearing gunshots around 11am the previous day.
The police went to Missy and Jerry's apartment, only to find it deserted. According to Detective Sergeant Donald Bailey, Missy knew Elmer's routine because of her position as assistant manager at the station. She knew the dates, times, and locations of his stops. She also knew he carried more money on Mondays because there were no pickups on Sundays.
The police have developed a theory of what happened that morning. They believe Jerry planned the crime and was waiting with Missy for Elmer. When Elmer opened the safe, Jerry pointed a gun at Elmer's head and told Missy to put handcuffs on Elmer and herself.
The police think that Jerry handcuffed Missy and Elmer together to convince Elmer that she was also a holdup victim and that her life was in danger. They believe Elmer reluctantly went along with it to keep her from getting hurt. After they arrived at the field in Rose Township, Jerry unlocked the handcuffs to show Elmer that he was not going to hurt Missy. Then, he shot Elmer.
The morning after the murder, Missy and Jerry were sighted at Lucky Auto Sales in Pontiac. They bought a used blue pickup truck with small bills. While Jerry went to get insurance, Missy sat with the truck salesman and chatted for over two hours.
Sgt. Bailey notes that during those two hours, Missy could have called the police or told the salesman what happened. But she did not. He feels she is just as guilty as Jerry, even though she did not pull the trigger.
At first, Sheri could not believe that Missy and Jerry had killed Elmer. Even when she found out the rest of the story and how it happened, she was still shocked. She never thought Missy would be involved in something like that. Vice Principal Kerns cannot believe that Missy would be involved in a murder, based on what he knew about her.
Sheri realizes that Missy and Jerry are not the people they made everyone believe they were. Instead, they are "liars and phonies". She feels there was no reason for Elmer to die, and if they could do that to him, then they could do it to someone else.
Sgt. Bailey wants to find Missy and Jerry. He believes they are dangerous and wants anyone who comes into contact with them to understand that. He is fearful that someone else will get hurt or killed. He is certain that they will do this again.
Phyllis claims that she never noticed a change in Missy or a "split" in her personality, unless "[she] didn't want to." She does not know if she will ever see Missy again. When Missy left, her parents found a letter from her that said she did not want to let anybody put her down, she was not a whore, she loved them all, and she wanted them to take care of themselves.
Missy and Jerry are traveling with their one-year-old son, Jamie. Jerry is wanted for murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, fraud, and passing bad checks. Missy is wanted for questioning regarding Elmer's murder.
Suspects: Jerry and Missy are believed to be responsible for Elmer's murder. Jerry has been charged, but Missy is only wanted for questioning.
Extra Notes:

  • This case originally aired on the February 5, 1988 Special #5 episode of Unsolved Mysteries. It was updated on the May 6, 1988 Special #6 episode.
  • It was later re-profiled in the Dennis Farina hosted series on the August 11, 2009 and April 2, 2010 episodes.
  • It was titled "Badlands", a reference to the 1973 movie of the same name, which is also about a young girl running off with a criminal and committing murder.
  • Elmer's widow, Mary, was interviewed for the show, but her interview was not aired.
  • Sources vary on whether or not Missy and Jerry were married. Some sources refer to the gas station as a "service station" and state: Missy was originally from Boonsboro, Maryland; Jerry worked at another gas station; they came to Michigan in July; Elmer was forty-eight; he was kidnapped at 7:30am; he was robbed of $15,000; and Missy and Jerry bought their truck on the day of the murder.

Results: Solved - Within minutes of the broadcast, twenty viewers in the small, rural community of Moses Lake, Washington, called the police to say they recognized Missy and Jerry. Seven hours later, at 5:30am on the morning of February 6, 1988, the police arrested them at a friend's house.
The police discovered that Missy and Jerry had watched the broadcast and were waiting for officers to arrive. Sgt. Dennis Duke of the Moses Lake Police Department said that when they arrived at the house, Jerry stepped out and said, "I'm the guy you're looking for." He also said, "You must be from Unsolved Mysteries" and mentioned that it was his favorite show. Sgt. Duke noted that Jerry was calm, collected, and nonviolent.
Missy was five months pregnant at the time of her arrest. She and Jerry had been living in the area since June 1987, having previously lived in Seattle. He was working at Kmart, and she was working at a card shop and as a motel maid. They had been using their actual names. Jerry carried his Michigan driver's license and used his original social security number.
The police learned that a few days before her arrest, Missy told her boss at the motel that she would be quitting her job. She told friends that she and Jerry planned to move to West Virginia on March 1, 1988, to help his brother run a family flower shop. The day before their arrests, they sold furniture at a yard sale, telling friends they were raising money to leave town.
When questioned by reporters, Jerry claimed that he and Missy left Maryland because she was unhappy at home and did not get along with her parents. He claimed he was lonely when he met her and wanted a friend. He said he listened to her, cared about her, and did not "treat her like a teenager."
Jerry also claimed they left Michigan and moved to Washington after the murder because they ran out of money and believed they could make better lives for themselves, not because they were on the run from the police. He claimed they were only hiding from her parents.
Jerry insisted that he and Missy were innocent. He claimed the police had circumstantial evidence and hearsay but no witnesses. He said he knew nothing about the crime and that he and Missy were "not the type of people to do something like that." He said Missy quit her job at the gas station before the murder.
Jerry also claimed that after they saw the broadcast, he and Missy planned to go to Michigan to turn themselves in. After stopping at a motel forty miles from Moses Lake, they talked to friends who told them it would be better to turn themselves in to Moses Lake police. They claimed they were at their friend's house to drop off Jamie when they were arrested.
Jerry believed the police just wanted a conviction and did not care if he was innocent. Sgt. Bailey, however, believed they had enough circumstantial and physical evidence to prove that Missy and Jerry were guilty.
On February 12, 1988, Missy and Jerry were extradited to Michigan to stand trial for armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder. In March, kidnapping and murder charges against Missy were dropped in exchange for her testimony against Jerry. She was freed on bond and returned to her parents' home. Jerry claimed that when he and Missy discussed whether she should talk to the authorities, he told her to "do whatever was necessary to stay out of jail." In June, she gave birth to their second child.
In August 1988, Jerry went on trial for armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder. Missy testified that she helped plan the robbery but initially knew nothing about the murder. She said Jerry often talked about robbing Elmer. His original plan was to handcuff her and Elmer together, take them to a remote area, hit Elmer over the head, and rape her.
Missy said they planned the robbery for a Monday because there would be more cash at the station since no pickups occurred on Sunday. Jerry bought a van shortly before the murder, which he used to kidnap and transport Elmer. On the day of the murder, he lured Elmer outside the gas station, saying he wanted to show Elmer his van. He then handcuffed Elmer and forced him to lie down in the van before driving to the field.
Jerry initially told Missy that he had left Elmer handcuffed to a tree. However, two months later, he confessed to killing Elmer, saying, "In case anything should ever happen, I think you ought to know that I did it." She testified that she did not leave him after he confessed because she had nowhere else to go.
A former coworker and roommate of Jerry's testified that, about a month before Elmer's murder, he helped Jerry plan the robbery. They planned to abduct Elmer when he came to the Union 76 station, take him to a secluded area, and beat him up. They did not plan to kill him. The coworker later backed out of the plan. Another coworker testified that Jerry had approached him about robbing Elmer shortly before the murder.
On August 22, 1988, Jerry was found guilty of murder, kidnapping, and robbery. He was sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole. He remains incarcerated at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan.
In October 1988, Missy pleaded guilty to armed robbery in a juvenile court. She was sentenced to live in a Michigan youth home until she turned nineteen. While there, she got her driver's license and a high school equivalency diploma.
In May 1989, after serving eight months, Missy was released. She then moved back in with her parents and children in Hagerstown, Maryland. She stated that she was glad to get away from Jerry and wished the crime had never happened. She also felt she "changed" a lot and was more assertive.
Sadly, Elmer's widow, Mary, passed away in 2014 at the age of sixty-six.
Links:

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Unsolved Mysteries Wiki