1985-10-18 complaint 1

Affidavit

The affidavit, executed by Sgt. Yerger, read as follows:

That on October 15, 1985, Donald Ray McKay [sic] a truck driver [sic] reported to Potter County Sheriffs Office that he had spotted a naked body at approximately 5:00 p.m. located approximately lA mile north of the Canadian River Bridge on Highway 287 and approximately 14 miles north of Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. Officers responding to the location located the body, later identified as Gail Lenore Smith by a family member.

Affiant in tracing the whereabouts of Gail Smith, on the day before, learned that Gail Smith left Fort Worth, Texas, on October 14, 1985, at approximately 4:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Affiant learned that before Gail Smith left Fort Worth she was taken outside the city limits by Gail Smith's sister, Margie Smith, so that Gail Smith could hitch a ride.

Margie Smith saw Gail Smith approach a truck driver approximately 7 miles outside of Fort Worth on Route 287. However, before Gail Smith entered the truck she advised her sister, Margie Smith, to record the tag number of the truck. Margie Smith did not at that time write [sic] the tag number of the truck but did get a good look at it and described it to Curt Brenner of the Fort Worth Police Department, [sic] as having the company name of Jewett Scott Trucking Company. She further described it as a Peterbilt brand semi-tractor truck, cherry red in color with a sleeper cab.

Margie Smith gave the foregoing description of the truck to the Fort Worth Police Department after being informed that her sister's body had been discovered by law enforcement officers in Amarillo.

Based on the description that Margie Smith gave of the truck, Affiant learned that this company was located in Magnum, Oklahoma. An officer of that company by the name of Steve Scott indicated to the law enforcement officers that the only truck Jewett Scott Trucking Company had in the Fort Worth area on the 14th of October was one driven by Benjamin Herbert Boyle.

Steve Scott advised the Affiant that the truck in question was assigned to Benjamin Herbert Boyle and that Benjamin Herbert Boyle was an employee of Jewett Scott Trucking Company. Steve Scott also described the truck as having a red or burgandy cloth interior in the sleeping cab of the semi-tractor truck, and is the only truck that Jewett Scott Trucking Company owns with that type of sleeper interior.

Affiant has learned from Modeina Holmes, an I.D. Technician for the Special Crimes Unit of the Amarillo Police Department that investigates homicides that the naked body of Gail Smith was covered with red type fibers.

Affiant also learned from Steve Scott that Benjamin Herbert Boyle was to go to Canon City, Colorado, after leaving Fort Worth and go through Amarillo, Texas. Affiant knows from personal experience and from studying a Texas roadmap that a common and convenient route to Canon City from Amarillo would be to go through Dumas, Texas, located on Route 287. The body was discovered between Amarillo and Dumas on the route that Benjamin Herbert Boyle would more than likely have taken.

Affiant has also learned that Margie Smith described Benjamin Herbert Boyle as being a white male who was tall, thin, with brown to reddish brown hair, medium to short length, wearing a western dress type shirt.

Affiant has also learned from Steve Scott that Benjamin Herbert Boyle, in fact, matches this same description.

Affiant has learned from Dr. Ralph Erdmann, a forensic pathologist, that the death of Gail Smith occurred sometime between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m. on October 15, 1985, approximately 8 to 12 hours after Gail Lenore Smith was last seen alive in Forth [sic] Worth, Texas.

Statement

1. The written statement taken on October 19, 1985 at 10:05 p.m., excluding the formal portions, reads as follows:

   My name is Benjamin Herbert Boyle. I am 42 years old. My date of birth is 7/22/43. I was born in Hobart, Oklahoma. I live at 401 South Main, Canute, Oklahoma. My home phone number is 405/472/3842. I work for Jewett-Scott Trucking Company. On Monday, October 14, 1985, I was sitting in my truck on US-287 near the Hammon Road Exit when a girl came up to my truck and ask me if I was going to Amarillo. I told her yeah, I was going to towards [sic] Amarillo. I told her I would give her a ride. Sgt. Yerger showed me a photograph and told me the photograph was of Gayle [sic] Smith. The girl in the photograph is the same girl I picked up. While riding in my truck, the girl set her purse in the boot of the sleeper and it fell out. I later found a lighter, a pack of cigarettes, and a make-up brush in my truck. I put all these items in a catch-all thing on the dashboard. I let Gayle [sic] out at the Jolly Truck Stop south of Wichita Falls, Texas, about 7:00 or so on Monday night. I never saw her again. I never had sex with the girl.↩︎