in a plastic bag under a pile of rocks. the autopsy revealed sherry died of blunt force trauma, just as the forensic evidence suggested. prosecutors believed bob was as unhappy in the marriage as sherry was but concluded a divorce would be too expensive. he did not want to incur the costs of child support or of a divorce and division of the property. mrs. durall s parents were fairly wealthy. mr. durall didn t want to lose his inheritance. on the night of the crime, prosecutors think bob drugged sherry to make her drowsy, although toxicology tests at the autopsy were inconclusive. the evidence proves bob hit sherry on the head repeatedly with a blunt object, creating
van revealed no evidence of foul play, and there were no foreign fingerprints. even more troubling, sherry s personal bank account hadn t been touched since her disappearance. she just got a bonus at work, and she had just put that into the bank, i think, that week. so the theory from all the co-workers was, why would she be putting all this money away and not leave with it, not touch it? police conducted extensive interviews with sherry s friend, kevin johnson. he insisted he had nothing to do with her disappearance. and he was later able to provide some information, what he was doing on the day she was reported missing. sherry s co-workers told police about a comment she made the day before she disappeared. she said if anything happens to me, my life is in my desk. and in her desk, among other
police think it was bob driving sherry s van to the hotel parking lot when the witness reported seeing it. and they think the store clerk was simply mistaken when he claimed sherry was in his store the day after her disappearance. we pulled the videotape from the store from that evening, and sherry was nowhere on the tape. at bob durall s trial, despite leading police to sherry s body, he pled not guilty and took the stand in his own defense. he told an incredible tale of two men who killed sherry and forced him to dispose of her body. they said they d kill him and the children if he went to the police. actually, i was having a hard time trying not to laugh because i thought it was so ridiculous of a story that after two years in jail, you think he would come up with a better a better story. but in reality, i think that he
he emotionally controlled her, and she just did not feel good around him. he would apparently be sort of monitoring her whereabouts. occasionally, she would go out to lunch with some of her friends. mr. durall would show up. so he, in effect she describes the situation where you almost have a husband stalking his own wife. during police questioning, bob durall admitted there were problems in his marriage. as for him being involved in sherry s disappearance, he said that was ridiculous. police asked bob what happened on the night before she disappeared. bob said they went to dinner at a local restaurant. when they got home, sherry spoke with her sister-in-law. mrs. durall appeared perhaps slightly tipsy and told her that
the blood on the walls and ceiling was medium-velocity blood spatter, consistent with someone swinging a bloody object. scientists compared the dna from the blood in the bedroom to the dna profiles of sherry s parents and discovered that this was sherry s blood. investigators also found a bloodstain on the doorway leading to the garage. and in bob s car was the receipt for a specialty cleaning product. and police also solved another mystery. where were the duralls children on the night of the murder? a perfect opportunity for him. his youngest child was going to be gone that evening. his other two were at camp, and they were going to be alone in the house that night.