True Crime: If You were Obsessed with Your Grandson and Wanted Sole Custody of Him, How Far Would You be Willing to Go? “Concrete Alibi” (Video; Only 22 Minutes!)

 

Above and below: Murder victim Karyn Gail Hearn Slover, 27 Oct 1972-Sept 27, 1996

 

 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Restored and updated at 1:11 a.m., on Saturday, May 23, 2020

Forensic Files - Season 11, Ep 8: “Concrete Alibi”: Narrated by the Late, Great, Peter Thomas (June 28, 1924 – April 30, 2016)
 




Border Reiver 6 months ago (edited)

Imagine being the cop who went to look at that garbage bag and finds a head....would give you the heebie-jeebies....

The murder of Karyn Hearn Slover occurred on September 27, 1996, in Decatur, Illinois, when Karyn Slover, a 23-year-old mother of one, disappeared shortly after leaving her job as an advertising sales representative.

Two days later, authorities discovered Karyn’s dismembered remains, wrapped in plastic bags, in and near Lake Shelbyville. Bet these vile bastards never thought they would get caught by dog hairs and a button and rivet off her jeans...and the concrete from their own yard...

In 2002, Karyn’s ex-husband, Michael Slover Jr., his mother Jeannette Slover, and his father Michael Slover Sr. were convicted of Karyn Slover’s murder, and all three were sentenced to 60 years in prison.

The case is notable for being one of the first instances of dog DNA used as evidence in a murder trial.

Karyn’s autopsy revealed that Karyn had been shot seven times in the head and dismembered using a power saw before, being placed into the plastic bags that were telling [?] sealed using duct tape.

A break in the case came in 1998, when police noticed that broken concrete at Miracle Motors, a business owned by Karyn’s ex-father-in-law Michael Slover Sr., were similar to concrete blocks used to weigh down Karyn’s body.

A forensic geologist was brought in to see if anything on the Slovers’ business matched evidence found at the scene of the crime. The geologist found that not only was the concrete consistent with that found at Miracle Motors, but that evidence found in the abandoned car was also likely from the Slovers’ business.

The task force sifted through dirt at Miracle Motors and eventually discovered a metal rivet and a plastic button that fit a pair of Paris Club jeans and a white shirt that Karyn had been wearing the day of her murder. Police also reported finding bones at the scene, but these were not introduced at trial, and were believed to have been animal meat bones that came from food fed to two dogs that Slover used to secure the property.

Police then began to suspect that Michael Slover Sr. and his wife Jeannette had performed the murder over custody issues, as Karyn had expressed interest in moving away to pursue her modeling career and take her son Kolten with her. Before arresting the Slovers, the investigators had a veterinary geneticist perform DNA analysis on the animal hairs found on the duct tape, which was matched to hairs retrieved from an animal brush that had been used on the dogs Slover kept on his business property. The police used this evidence to arrest the Slovers, which would be later thrown out during an appeals process by the Slovers.

In January 2000, Michael and Jeannette Slover and their son Michael Slover Jr. were arrested and charged with first-degree murder; Michael Sr. and Michael Jr. were each given the additional charge of attempting to conceal a crime. Michael Jr. had been at work, which was confirmed, but he had repeatedly called his parents that day, which made him a suspect in concealing the crime. On May 18, 2002, the three Slovers were all found guilty of first-degree murder and were later sentenced to 60 years in prison, with both Michael Jr. and his father receiving an extra five years for the charge of concealing a crime.

The following year in August 2003, there were concerns raised over the custody of Karyn’s son Kolten, who had been adopted by Mary Slover, Karyn’s former sister-in-law. Authorities argued that Mary had been aware of the murder and could have potentially helped in concealing the crime. A judge later ruled that Mary was unfit as an adoptive parent, and that she should not retain custody. Mary contested the ruling, which she claimed influenced a caseworker to change her report, which initially contained a recommendation that Kolten be returned to Mary. Despite this, Mary Slover officially lost custody of Kolten in October 2003. Kolten was later raised by his maternal grandparents, Larry and Donna Hearn, of Mt. Zion, Illinois.
 


Karyn Hearn Slover’s ex-husband and parents were all convicted of first-degree murder on May 17, 2002. However, Michael Slover Sr. and Michael Slover Jr. were each sentenced to only 65 years, and Jeannette Slover was sentenced to a mere 60 years. And since these were state sentences, each killer will only do from one-third to one-half of his sentence.

A Decatur (IL) Herald-Review report from 2014, on the Slovers’ machinations.

The killers demanded and got a court order permitting DNA testing, where in 1998, police had only engaged in fingerprint testing. (Advanced DNA testing reportedly was not then available.)

This ruse was to try—with the help of the murderer’s best friend, “The Innocence Project”—and get an undeserved re-trial, at which they would hope for at least one stupid or evil juror who would hang the jury, and at most 12 fools who would fall for “reasonable doubt,” and spring them. (Or several fools and/or evilists who would wear down and intimidate one reasonable juror after another, until they all voted to acquit.) Next thing you know, the killers would be suing the state of Illinois for millions for “false imprisonment.” (See “The Central Park Five.”)
 


Jeannette Slover
 


Michael Slover Sr.
 


Michael Slover Jr.