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Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348

November 06, 2019 / 01:06:08

This episode covers the unsolved murder of Cherise Walker Bingham, who was shot and killed in Indianapolis on December 12, 2012. Hosts Nick and the Captain discuss the details of the case, including the investigation, key suspects, and the impact on Cherise's family.

Cherise was found dead near the White River while walking her dogs. The investigation revealed that she was shot with her own gun, which raised questions about whether it was an accident, suicide, or homicide. The hosts highlight the lack of evidence and the family's ongoing search for justice.

Key discussions include the timeline of events leading up to Cherise's death, the role of her husband Eugene Bingham, and the significance of the dogs present at the scene. Eugene's alibi and conflicting statements during the investigation are scrutinized.

The episode emphasizes the emotional toll on Cherise's family as they commemorate her death each year, hoping for answers. The hosts urge listeners to share any information regarding the case to help bring closure.

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the podcast and support the show through donations and merchandise. The episode also includes advertisements for BetterHelp and Stamps.com.

TLDR

Cherise Walker Bingham was murdered in 2012; her case remains unsolved, raising questions about her husband and the circumstances of her death.

Episode

1:06:08
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[Music] welcome to true crime garage wherever you are whatever you were doing thanks
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everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music]
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WTHR channel 13 is the news leader for Indianapolis and central Indiana for this week's case they have been there
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since the beginning December 12 2012 Cherise Walker Bingham was shot and killed near her home the murder has gone
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unsolved not because of a lack of effort or know-how but from a lack of evidence
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Cherise was close with her family and every year near the first days of winter the Walker family unfortunately has to
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experience the anniversary of her death but it's also a very important marker for where the case stands today it's one
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more chance to remind the public that someone very special was taken away far too early and injustice has been done
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and someone still needs to be held responsible WTHR reported on December 12 2016 that on this date exactly four
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years ago someone got away with murder on the anniversary of the crime police and the family of Cherise Bingham begged
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for help and justice they returned to the scene of the crime a popular walkway along the White River
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near New York Street on the edge of the IUPUI campus binghams brother Keith Walker organized the vigil each year
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he said we want to keep praying about it and justice will prevail it really will we just can't give up
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Cherise Walker Bingham was walking her dogs it was early evening she was murdered
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with her own gun her family and friends are pleading and praying someone steps forward and points the police in the
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direction of her killer at the vigil one woman prayed out loud saying we know things are done in secret things are
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done in the dark will come to light 2018 marks six years since the murder of Cherise Bingham on this day Keith Walker
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was quoted on channel 13 saying when this day rolls around that's the day she got murdered for my family we just go
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back to how loving and caring she was we just knew it wasn't time for her to leave us every December 12th her brother
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Keith and other friends and family mark her murder at that location yeah the pain is still there said Walker it will
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never go away but the evil thoughts that I had they're gone they have been replaced by the strong drive to find the
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killer he pleads with anybody on the trail that night you had to see somebody walk up to her
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and say something to her bring this to a close let's find out why this happened said Walker get some justice over it so
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both families can move on the family asked anybody with information to please call the Indiana State Police at one
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eight hundred four five three four seven five six this week we will explore the known facts of the case and some
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previously not released to the public we will look into the possibilities was this a random crime was there something
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or someone closer to home that could be responsible this is true crime garage and this is the case of Cherise Walker
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Bingham [Music] Charice Walker Bingham was 51 years old she died just days before her 52nd
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birthday Cherise was born on December 23rd 1960 she was a native of Indianapolis Indiana growing up in the
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area in a large family surrounded by two brothers and a larger extended family sharise's mother was ill and
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unfortunately passed away in her early 50s Charisse was called resi by her family she was popular in athletic in
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high school and she had an affinity for dogs particularly German Shepherds at the age of nine or ten sharise's family
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said she was so attached to her shepherd cruiser that the dog did everything with
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her she continued to own and train German Shepherds for the rest of her life Charisse did go to veterinarian school
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although it's not clear whether she completed her degree in her early 20s Reiss met and married a man named Eugene
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Bingham jr. who is known as Bo Peep according to Charice's family they were married for 28 years
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Eugene was born on March 14 1961 so he was just a little younger than his wife so we have Ricci and Bo Peep that's
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right now Eugene is 6 foot tall about 200 pounds before sharise's death he had worked part-time at ups and also had a
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job at the Indianapolis water company he had since retired from ups and then he lost his job at the Water Company
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this is because the company had been sold and the new corporate owners required drug testing of their employees
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we have been told that Eugene could not pass the drug test sharise's family tells us that Eugene was a pot smoker
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sharise did not share this hobby with her husband in fact she was extremely health-conscious
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she watched what she ate she exercised and she worked out regularly now sharise and her husband
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eugen they had no children so Charisse was crazy about her two dogs treating them like they were her kids she worked
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full-time at a couple of different long-term positions throughout her adult life now just months before she took a
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position at the gatorade bottling plant this is in Indianapolis she was a member
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of the New Haven Missionary Baptist Church where she was very active in the community there now Charisse would be
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described as tall attractive with short hair according to sharise's aunt Deborah
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McMurray she had a way about her that when she walked into a room she made people turn their heads
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the general known facts of December 12 2012 the day in question is that Charisse Bingham was out walking her
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dogs presumably alone now even though it was after dark it was still just evening
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time fairly early and this is in a big city on a well-traveled path and her two German Shepherds are with her and are
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trained to protect this is like a walking path or a biking path right correct so this is around 6:30 p.m. when
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a passing cyclists found her body bloodied and prone with her two dogs circling her in distress what happened
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and why would someone kill this warm beloved church growing hard-working woman let's get into the details of that
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day to try to figure it out right so the 12th of December 2012 it was a cold Wednesday evening Charisse was scheduled
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to work the overnight shift at the gatorade bottling plant she was going about her typical routine that evening
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which involved walking her two dogs this is May Day and tsunami she set out with
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them for a walking trail along the White River this is right near the Indiana university-purdue University
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Indianapolis campus IUPUI about three miles from sharise's home Charisse drove to this location in her truck
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and parked it in a small lot along the North White River Parkway West she then proceeded to cross the White River on
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the west New York Street bridge and then turned onto the White River Trail this as the captain points out is a trail
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that is popular for biking walking and running during the daytime because it connects the IUPUI campus to some of the
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dormitories but it would have been dark or nearly dark by this time when Cherie started out on her walk the trail at
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this time of day would be much less populated after sunset right but she's in shape she has her two dogs with her
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now she's taking the dogs on a walk but the dogs are also a form of protection for her and she also carries a gun with
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her when she walks most of the time keep in mind she works at night this is part
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of her daily routine this is morning for her but it's evening for the rest of us
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in Indiana on December 12th sunset is right around 5:00 p.m. or so right so it would be dark or nearly dark by this
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time now we are not certain how far along on her walk Charisse got to whether she was just heading out or
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actually on her way back right and that's because they don't have a definitive time of when she started or
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how long as she was walking for detective les Norville of the Indiana State Police who worked the case told us
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that based on the timeline it seems that Charisse was just starting out on her walk but the timing is not known for
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certain a cyclist later told authorities that he had passed her along his ride and that she had to corral the two dogs
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who were off of a leash in order to let him pass the cyclist noted that Charisse
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was walking with the leash slung around her neck you know so she had a leash with her in case she should need it but
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was not using it at the time that this cycle has passed sometime later the cyclist was on his
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way back when he came across sharise's body with the dogs circling her Cherise was lying on the paved trail face down
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this was near the intersection of West New York Street and limestone Street close to where she had parked there was
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blood on the concrete beneath her Indiana State Police officers were dispatched to the scene at approximately
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6:30 p.m. this according to the press statement this was Indiana State Police jurisdiction not Indianapolis PD because
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the trail was technically state parkland right students from IUPUI nearby who saw
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the police cars and heard the sirens they were shocked this was normally quite a safe very public space right one
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of the students who was interviewed by the local Fox station after biking by the crime scene said he could see two
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German Shepherds standing over a body before he was ordered away by the police yeah her dogs were protecting her when
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Detective Norville arrived on the scene he was told that when medical personnel arrived sharise's two dogs were guarding
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her and would not permit the EMTs to get anywhere near her you know they could not even approach her to check for vital
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signs the dogs were this is their words people were very sensitive about how you
00:15:41
describe dogs and their actions because we love them so much right but the words
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that we've been told was the dogs were too threatening for EMTs to approach Cherise yeah which is interesting to me
00:15:55
because she's walking the dogs without a leash so we could disassemble dogs she babied them but they're probably most
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people don't take their dog for a walk and take it off the chain if they don't think that the dog is gonna be able to
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control themselves so obviously she's walking with the dogs without the leash police being around her neck and then
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this attack happens and now they're trying to guard her or protect her a name day once that gets near they're
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almost acting in a vicious manner well the dogs are on edge obviously because something went down and that's what
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we're trying to figure out and then on top of that they're the probably the person that they loved by far the most
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right is obviously hurting and they they are aware of that the Indiana State Police press statement indicated that
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the canines appear to be protecting to be protective of the decedent and would not let investigative personnel approach
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another officer at the scene said that the dogs were circling the body and being aggressive toward anyone the
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Indianapolis animal control was called in and did tranquilize the dogs and removed them now detective Norville said
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that he found the victim lying on her back she had been turned over by EMTs who were checking on her injuries there
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was blood and foam on her face and blood beneath her body she was later identified as 51 year old Charisse
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Walker Bingham strewn about sharise's body police found some very important things okay so they found her flip style
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cell phone which was beeping at the time this according to the detective indicating it needed to be charged an
00:17:53
Indiana firearm carry permit was found a pair of black winter gloves a small caliber semi-automatic handgun it was
00:18:04
determined that Charisse Bingham had been shot detective Norville told us that one thing that was strange was that
00:18:11
sharise's personal items were scattered around the ground near her body as if she or someone else had pulled them out
00:18:19
in an attempt to get at her phone or something else in her pocket now I know that everyone is thinking what
00:18:30
we going on what's going on here right we have a woman found dead in the park her firearm is found near her she was
00:18:39
determined to be shot was this an accident a suicide a homicide I think we should go through each of these
00:18:46
scenarios I think investigators originally thought because it was her own gun that that it
00:18:52
was a suicide one thing the police spent a significant amount of time looking into early on was
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if this could have been an accident Charisse owned a gun and one had been found at the scene sharise's husband
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Eugene suggested that perhaps the dogs had jumped up on her causing the gun to go off and Cherise he said had been
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considering carrying her gun with the round chambered Eugene told her that this was a bad idea right but if this is
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how this went down she may not have listened to him so you're gonna carry a gun for protection but you're not gonna
00:19:35
have any rounds loaded in it as what he's saying well for safety purposes most people do not round a do not put a
00:19:43
round in the chamber I in the chamber but there's still bullets in the gun correct okay on the night that she died
00:19:50
she would have carried her gun in the right breast pocket of her coveralls as we know she did not have her gun pouch
00:20:00
with her this all of this stuff is going to become very important to how a lot of
00:20:06
stuff Figg we're able to figure out a lot of this stuff here okay so pay attention she you pay attention she
00:20:14
would have carried the gun in her right breast pocket of her coveralls we know this because she did not have her gun
00:20:21
pouch with her and the coveralls had holes in the hip pockets so it would have been impossible to carry the gun in
00:20:28
there so the gun had to be placed in the chest area pocket police conducted tests
00:20:35
on the gun and determined that it required 10 pounds of pressure to pull the trigger keep that in mind when we're
00:20:42
considering that one of the books managed to jump up and somehow wedge down the trigger shooting Charisse
00:20:48
in the chest right but we also need to account for how the gun got out of her pocket and into onto the ground perhaps
00:20:58
she had been holding it and somehow fired it at herself accidentally this seems incredibly unlikely police didn't
00:21:09
actually spend too much time on this accident theory and light of other information which surfaced during the
00:21:17
investigation uh now I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the dog would be able to create ten pounds of pressure
00:21:26
just the likelihood that they're Paul or something would be able to fit you know
00:21:32
to pull the trigger that to me that seems more unlikely well there's a there's several problems with that and I
00:21:38
agree with you 100% I I actually think ten pounds of pressure might be a little light considering how large I'm assuming
00:21:46
these dogs are right German Shepherds are not small dogs one if a dog jumps up on you and when they're excited you know
00:21:53
sometimes they can knock you back a little bit even if they're not that big of a dog the problem then becomes two
00:21:59
different issues here one if the gun is secure in her pocket how is the the math
00:22:10
of in the angles of getting a dog to accidentally clip that trigger seems incredibly almost impossible Yeah right
00:22:23
seems like the magic bullet right so then then you wonder like well would her gun have been out for some reason and
00:22:30
then and then the accident occurs because if the guns not out it seems very unlikely the appalled or a claw or
00:22:40
you know the dog's nail or whatever would would cause the trigger to be pulled right and if that is the scenario
00:22:49
then how did the gun end up on the ground next to her but should have still been in her pocket when she was found
00:22:56
dead look I don't mind the idea of carrying a weapon with you to protect yourself
00:23:03
but tell me and what scenario is she walking down this path with her dogs and just she just decides to pull out the
00:23:11
gun to look at it because you're not gonna fire it in this area even if you're going to practice shooting you
00:23:18
don't fire it in this area it's downtown on this this bike running walking path right so it just seems odd to me unless
00:23:28
she got startled by something and then she pulled it out right one would have to believe that that something would
00:23:34
have to have gone down for her to pull that gun out of her pocket and then now with that this is where it gets too
00:23:41
weird because now you get into just this long trail of consecutive events that all seem unlikely by themselves let
00:23:50
alone in sequence let's get into the the suicide thought because like we said police didn't spend a ton of time on the
00:24:01
accident theory and it's a lot of that is just because the math of it doesn't seem to work out and we'll go through
00:24:08
that a little more in just a bit now according to the early reports the coroner's office initially was not
00:24:17
certain whether sharise's death was a homicide or suicide on December 14th two days after her body was found
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the coroner issued a report stating that Cherise Bingham died after being shot in
00:24:29
the chest but the manner of death was still to be determined detective Norville stated that the
00:24:37
initial thought at the onset of the investigation was that the victim might have killed herself right the Walker
00:24:45
family however was adamant that Cherise would not have killed herself and soon it became clear detective Norville said
00:24:54
that the evaluation of the entire scene and the circumstances of such led them to the conclusion that Cherise did not
00:25:03
kill herself what did they be able to prove whether or not she's shot the gun we had that conversation and you and I
00:25:10
will get into that and just two bit but what they how they arrived at this conclusion is actually not from
00:25:16
gunpowder residue test on her person they base this on the fact that Cherise most likely did not shoot herself and
00:25:29
leave the dogs unattended roaming free this would be very out of character she cared about these dogs like she would
00:25:38
have her own children you wouldn't go to an area with the purpose of killing oneself and leave your your most beloved
00:25:47
of anything on this planet out there unsafe because of you if you're planning to in your life then what does it matter
00:25:58
what happens to the dogs you didn't love him enough to stick around but but I see
00:26:03
that as being a point that somebody would make I think the other point too is she's heavily involved in her church
00:26:09
and that would probably go against her religious beliefs to take her own life well what you're gonna have is you're
00:26:16
gonna have a mountain of these these little different items and thoughts and theories that make it unlikely that she
00:26:22
killed herself and regardless of how you feel or if you agree or disagree it would be generally considered strange
00:26:30
for somebody that cared about those dogs so much to take them with them to and kill themselves and leave these dogs out
00:26:37
running around who knows what could have happened love it was he very strange to
00:26:41
go and commit suicide in a park you know especially a heavily heavily traveled area and he decided all I'm gonna shoot
00:26:51
myself in the chest so chances are I'm gonna bleed to death and by doing it in a park you're gonna have more people
00:27:00
that possibly would see you and call for help so a lot of things don't line up here
00:27:07
she also brought along with her fruit she brought a snack with her for her walk you wouldn't likely do that if your
00:27:17
intent was to kill yourself no suicide snack she also locked her vehicle and secured the steering wheel
00:27:24
with an tie theft wheel device brain and investigators found sharise's flip phone
00:27:29
open this leading them to believe that she had attempted to make a call for help after she was shot as the
00:27:38
investigation progressed physical evidence proved that this was no suicide according to the family there was only
00:27:46
one shot to sharise's body and it was at close range lab techs found a bullet hole in the right sleeves of her two
00:27:56
outer layer garments Cherise was wearing then an additional bullet hole was found
00:28:03
in the clothes covering sharise's chest this is where the bullet was lodged this
00:28:09
means that Cherise was standing with her arms or at least her right arm out in front of her in a defensive posture when
00:28:19
the gun fired the bullet shot through the sleeves of her extended right arm and went into the sternum area killing
00:28:27
her so once investigators examined the trajectory of the bullet detective Norville told us that they ruled out
00:28:37
suicide it's when you follow the path that that bullet took given the evidence that you find on her person the bullet
00:28:45
holes in the sleeve and then the bullet hole in her chest it would be impossible
00:28:50
for her to have killed herself so captain this is a murder if there is something interfering with
00:29:03
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cheers to you captain cheers to all the filthy animals now let's talk about the gun found at the scene ballistics her
00:33:43
gun yes ballistics matched the bullet found in sharise's body to the gun found next to
00:33:50
her as the captain said it was sharise's own gun she was shot with her own weapon
00:33:55
Cherise and her husband Eugene each owned a gun they had the same model of handgun this was a 25 caliber sterling
00:34:04
semi-automatic she often brought the gun with her to walk her two dogs but Cherise seemed to be a little more
00:34:14
concerned about her safety than usual just shortly before her death this is according to her relatives her aunt
00:34:23
Debra McMurray told interviewers this Cherise seemed to believe that someone was following her
00:34:30
she specifically said that it was a dark blue blazer that was following her so we
00:34:38
have banned the van captain now we have banned the Blazer yeah I'll work on those t-shirts yeah and don't forget the
00:34:44
tan VW Bug ya vant ban the the cute ones just of hand ones only motorcycles are safe the strange thing about the gun
00:34:57
look Charisse was known to keep the gun in a special carrying pouch that was designed to hold it right
00:35:04
reporter Russ McQuaid who works for Fox 59 and who wrote extensively about this case told crime watch daily that
00:35:14
Charisse always kept this gun in that pouch the pouch was discovered at home and the gun was discovered by her side
00:35:26
sharise's family backs this statement up they say Charisse kept the gun in the carrying pouch when it was at home when
00:35:36
it was on her person the gun in that pouch should have been together that day by just about
00:35:44
everybody's accounts but that night the gun pouch was not only not found with Cherise but it was later found at the
00:35:52
home that she shared with her husband of 28 years Eugene this as said was highly
00:36:00
unusual the gun should have been in its pouch if she brought it along with her that evening not only that
00:36:08
Eugene Bingham was the one to call detective Norville this about two weeks after sharise's death to tell him that
00:36:16
he found the gun pouch at their home according to true crime daily when detectives processed the gun they found
00:36:26
no usable prints on it it could have been wiped down it certainly seems that sharise's prints at
00:36:34
least should have been on the gun right let's talk about that for just a second here if in fact she accidentally shot
00:36:42
herself or suicide or even if she took it with her just for protection and somebody approached her and something
00:36:49
went down why would her fingerprints not be on the gun if she in fact brought it
00:36:56
with her that night right she would have had to pick up the gun place it in her pocket and then if
00:37:03
she did pull the gun out now she's using her hands again we did say that gloves were found at the scene but they were
00:37:10
not found on her at the time right so that's that's pretty alarming right there correct how could someone take the
00:37:20
gun from her shoot her in the presence of these two protective dogs - that's the other question that you have to ask
00:37:27
here yeah I mean the fact that EMT can't even get to the body because of the the
00:37:33
dogs you would think that somebody any kind of confrontation between her and another individual these dogs are going
00:37:40
to become very protective very vicious very quickly something that was found on the gun was DNA DNA belonging to Eugene
00:37:51
Bingham Eugene told police that of course his DNA would be on the gun as he regularly
00:37:57
cleaned the gun for his wife but again it's still interesting that why would you have Eugene's DNA on the gun and not
00:38:08
the killer's right unless they're the same or why would you have Eugene's DNA on the gun but not have sharise's
00:38:15
fingerprints or somebody else's fingerprints it's all very strange the thing to with with the dogs now with
00:38:25
both of their owners with Eugene and Cherise being gun owners themselves and I can't say this specifically to these
00:38:33
two dogs Mayday and tsunami but one thing I have experienced in my life is that dogs that are familiar with guns
00:38:44
that have been around guns sometimes they they will flee at the sight of one and that's because typically dogs don't
00:38:54
like loud noises guns can be very loud usually are very loud there are many situations that I've witnessed where
00:39:06
even just target shooting or just seeing the gun they identify that object with a
00:39:12
loud noise that they do not like and sometimes they will in fact flee the area so that could explain how someone
00:39:23
was able to approach Cherise and not be attacked by the dogs yes we know the dogs were with her body when she was
00:39:31
later found but this meaning they returned to her right but I also going back to the DNA
00:39:38
being found the husband's DNA Eugene's DNA being found the tricky thing for me there is let's
00:39:46
say there was a attacker right the attacker takes a gun out shoots her then knows he's going to wipe it down
00:39:55
wipes it down throws the gun down okay so now we don't have any fingerprints maybe we don't have her DNA
00:40:04
on it but if he is cleaning the gun his DNA could be inside the cracks and crevices
00:40:12
of the gun correct and so that's so it's not clear in the investigation of did they just
00:40:20
pull it out and just wipe the handle or wipe the you know wherever you know I mean like did they wipe the trigger or
00:40:28
did they have some kind of solution on like a q-tip and and went inside the cracks and crevices and that's where
00:40:38
they found the DNA I wish it was a little more clear and it's not clear to me in this investigation well I think
00:40:44
you're probably spot-on with your assessment of their words and often we have to do that we have to read between
00:40:51
the lines to come up with what is actually going on in the investigation we were very fortunate that Detective
00:40:58
Norville and very fortunate that the Indiana State Police spoke with us regarding this case and they did tell us
00:41:06
some things that were have not been released to the public yet when this comes out now they're released there
00:41:12
were questions they did not answer which is totally fine and more than acceptable
00:41:18
the the thing here is they were involved with us because they want this case solved they have poured a lot of effort
00:41:28
and a lot of heart into this investigation and so it was it was great it's good for a true-crime garage that
00:41:37
we get some insider information but it's also good for their investigation the the thing that we have to worry about
00:41:43
here captain is the threat of this case going cold that's what everybody is in fear of yeah and so I think you're
00:41:50
spot-on with your analysis of their words and their actions I believe that you're correct that that they probably
00:41:58
were going to those cracks and crevices and to the the small little parts of that gun to recover anyone's DNA and the
00:42:09
DNA that they came up with was Eugene's because what it looks like to me is who ever used that gun to shoot Cherise
00:42:18
they wiped it down and they were probably wearing gloves at the time of her murder right so all I'm saying is
00:42:27
that I don't think that makes Eugene my number one suspect because of his DNA being offensive DNA was probably right
00:42:35
where it should have been if it's from her him cleaning the gun right but I'm not gonna roll him out because we don't
00:42:41
find anything on the gun really right that's the that's the biggest problem there should be something else and
00:42:47
there's not and that's why I think the assumption of Cherise bringing the gun with her that night is a dangerous one
00:42:55
to assume I think that the evidence points that to that she did not bring the gun with her that night right and
00:43:03
then that makes it even more diabolical right then you start going okay is Eugene responsible or somebody else
00:43:11
that's close to her or is it a hit and and eugene is is giving the the perpetrator her weapon to make it look
00:43:23
like possibly a suicide or accident well let's go back to the question about sharise's dogs because regardless of
00:43:30
what I said about seeing a weapon seeing a firearm and then they might they might
00:43:35
flee or they might cower according to sharise's family they firmly believe that these two dogs would
00:43:43
attack any stranger who was attempting to harm Cherise her family says the dogs were not friendly with people that they
00:43:51
did not know and we know that they weren't on a leash that night so they would have been able to chase and/or
00:43:58
bite somebody yeah right again this is a I don't want to say that her family is lying I'm just saying that kind of
00:44:07
contradict the two their dog was weren't friendly with people that they didn't know but they had to be at least
00:44:16
friendly enough or obedient enough to be off their leash because you know Cherise didn't seem
00:44:23
like a a responsible dog owner so the general rule that I apply with my dogs is I leash them in situations where I
00:44:35
believe they will not respond to my commands okay and so there are times that I do not leash them because I am of
00:44:48
the belief that they will respond to my commands meaning I still have control over my dogs even though they are not
00:44:55
leashed what I'm getting at here and where I think the the family's heads are at with this situation is they're not
00:45:05
leashed because they're out walking this is supposed to be something good for them and if it's just a passerby if it's
00:45:13
just somebody walking or cycling and she needs to throw a command to the dogs she believes that they will respond to
00:45:20
that command they are still under her control right in some type of situation where we have an aggressor where we have
00:45:26
an attacker what they're saying is you wouldn't command your dogs in that situation you wouldn't attempt to
00:45:34
control your dogs in that situation you would attempt to defend yourself and therefore they are saying that these
00:45:41
dogs had they seen her in any kind of distress would have had attacked or chased whoever did that right where they
00:45:49
had the biggest problem is they say that the only person that the dogs were comfortable with to the level that they
00:45:56
were comfortable with Cherise was Eugene as Eugene lived with the dogs he was an
00:46:03
owner of the dogs he was a caretaker at times for the dogs helping with walks and feeding them and such so I I think
00:46:14
we need to be clear here and clear up one thing saying we actually don't know for sure that the dogs did not attack
00:46:23
the shooter right it's possible that they chased away or even bit sharise's attacker and then came back to her body
00:46:33
detective Norville told us that there was an indication that the dogs were quote having a reaction to
00:46:41
ingesting blood from the scene and quote it's not clear what this means whether they licked Cherise trying to heal her
00:46:50
right or perhaps they got a piece of someone detectives checked area hospitals but found that no one came in
00:46:59
the days after the shooting to be treated for a dog bite but the fact that it was her gun that was used to kill her
00:47:08
indicates that either the shooter got very close to her risking a dog attack or the gun was in the possession of
00:47:16
someone else one of the questions I want to know is remember how you said that that bikers saw shuri's walking the dogs
00:47:23
and she had to like corral them was there word right so they could pass by what I wonder is how far the dogs were
00:47:35
away because I think if this is a planned attack by somebody let's let's say somebody's following her this blue
00:47:45
blazer or this is a planned attack from her husband you could if you knew I mean
00:47:53
you're you don't know that the dogs are gonna be off the leash but you might know her behaviors four habits of
00:47:59
walking and you go okay the dogs are gonna be on off their leash there's gonna be a distance between them and
00:48:07
that gives you a window in order to to attack the person because the other thing that people aren't
00:48:15
putting I think into play is it's great to say well see Eugene Eugene can be he could get close enough but you also have
00:48:27
to have a situation where you get close enough you're not seen by anybody else and then you have to leave the scene
00:48:38
find it by not being seen by anybody else am I making any sense there well yeah that so that puts a lot of
00:48:46
different scenarios into play but so takes some of them out of play when you really try to analyze it not just
00:48:54
for the fact of the dogs but from the fact that any attack that would take a decent length of time you risk detection
00:49:03
from possible eyewitnesses so under those scenarios are playing to those thoughts you have a couple of couple of
00:49:13
ideas here a person attacked sharise wrestled the gun from her shot her and the dogs ignored it and this was not
00:49:22
seen by any eyewitnesses all of this seems unlikely because as said the dogs had to be tranquilized later right the
00:49:32
other idea is a person attack sharise wrestled the gun away from her and shot her and then the dogs did attack but the
00:49:39
shooter was able to run away and then the other scenario would be someone shot sharise from a little bit of a distance
00:49:46
already having the gun in their possession when they arrived at the park that scenario to me seems to be the most
00:49:55
likely because it it you won as you said if there is a bit of distance between you and the dogs or if giving the
00:50:03
scenario the lay of the land and where everybody is at that time giving the opportunity for someone to approach her
00:50:11
not having to rustle the gun from her this also would take the least amount of time which would which would prevent or
00:50:20
really at least just make it less likely that somebody would see you in the act of shooting her right
00:50:28
cheresa the family tells us that that things were not right between sharise and Eugene for some time we need to take
00:50:37
a look at their marriage they were married for quite a long time twenty-eight years yeah no kids
00:50:44
Charice I according to her family they didn't tell she didn't tell them about any specific problems but they say they
00:50:53
were aware that sharise was hard-working church-going she was not down with Eugene smoking pot and drinking all the
00:51:01
time according to her aunt this is Debra McMurray who we've referenced earlier she said years into the marriage
00:51:12
Eugene moved into the basement living on the downstairs level while Cherise lived
00:51:19
upstairs right she's saying basically that marriage ain't working I'm gonna move down to the base I'm taking my act
00:51:27
and I'm going down so even the base she says that basically she believed that the two cohabitated together rather
00:51:36
than living as husband and wife right let's get into what the police were able to learn from Eugene himself so while
00:51:47
the Indiana State Police Louis is a nickname again bo-peep according to her family beau people will live in the
00:51:56
basement unfortunately you know you never know when somebody gets when they acquire
00:52:01
their nickname yeah unfortunately some people get a nickname when they're like 2 or 3 years old and it just sticks with
00:52:09
them for the rest of their life the Indiana State Police when they were processing the scene the murder scene
00:52:17
and charisse's truck which was still parked by the river Eugene Bingham arrived on the scene a
00:52:25
detective recorded his arrival time as 11:23 p.m. detectives spoke with him and he told them that he was asleep on the
00:52:34
couch at home and he woke up around 9:30 p.m. and noticed that Cherise wasn't home this he says was unusual for
00:52:42
several reasons but mainly because she was a routine person and she did in fact have to be at work at 10:30 that night
00:52:50
he tried to call her phone and had no success so he left the house to go look for her
00:52:58
he says he needed to go to three different locations these were all locations where he knew she would
00:53:05
typically walk the dogs the white river park was the last place that he checked when he arrived he said he saw
00:53:15
and seems a little fishy but good sorry when he arrived he said that he saw crime-scene tape around his wife's
00:53:22
vehicle that alerted him that made him approach the detectives on December 13th this is the day after the murder the
00:53:32
Indiana State Police Detectives this is les Norville in Matthew Lawrence they conducted a thorough interview with
00:53:39
Eugene some things that he told them the previous night at the scene of the crime
00:53:45
seemed off in the interview Eugene stated that Charisse was a creature of habit on the days when she was working
00:53:53
the night shift she would get up late do some stuff around the house exercise shower take the dogs for a walk and then
00:54:00
go to work on the 12th the detectives said that Eugene and Charisse did have a conversation that day then Charisse left
00:54:09
to walk the dogs Eugene says that he stayed home to watch the Miami Heat Warriors NBA basketball game he
00:54:20
reportedly told investigators that Cherise did not leave the house until after the game started which was around
00:54:30
7:30 p.m. which her body was found at 6:30 yeah this is beyond strange it's what you would call impossible yes but
00:54:41
again it's like he lives in the basement you know there might be some fumes so he
00:54:48
might not be good at telling time yeah he doesn't need to tell time he it's a fact of when the game started if his if
00:54:58
he's basing this time off of she left before the basketball game started we can all figure that out and as you said
00:55:05
captain the police not just what she found her body found before this time the police they were dispatched to the
00:55:13
scene at 6:30 a full hour before Eugene says his wife left the house not only was she dead she was found police
00:55:21
confirmed that the game the basketball game coverage TV coverage began at 7:30 8:00 p.m. and the tip-off was
00:55:29
7:41 p.m. well it's almost like he's trying to establish an alibi for himself yeah yeah I mean like I was watching the
00:55:37
game and and I can prove that because this is when the game started yeah but as points out one would have time to to
00:55:50
attack her flee the scene and make it home in time to watch the basketball game now he says she left as the game
00:55:59
was starting so back to his alibi let's continue with what he says he was doing right Eugene said that he fell asleep on
00:56:07
the couch and he didn't wake up until 9:30 or so because Cherise and the dog should have been home and she needed to
00:56:16
leave for work according to him at 10 o'clock he became concerned then he tried calling her from the home phone and got
00:56:24
no response ok of course he's concerned he doesn't have a job if she doesn't go to work her bills don't get paid he says
00:56:31
he got dressed and then after getting dressed tried calling her from his cell phone as he was leaving to check these
00:56:39
walking locations again he got nothing with this phone call he wasn't as concerned about her not answering the
00:56:47
phone is what he tells police Eugene specified that Cherise usually carried her phone with her but she
00:56:54
almost had it off she you know some some people turned the phone off she was one
00:57:00
of those types she would power on only if she wanted to make a call so they pulled Eugene's phone records and what
00:57:10
they found did not mesh with what Eugene was telling them the home phone called sharise's cell at 11:02 p.m. the call
00:57:22
from Eugene's cell to his wife's phone was made at 11:09 p.m. these calls were made an hour
00:57:29
and a half after Eugene said he woke up and noticed his wife was missing and well after he said he made the costs
00:57:37
alright so we have multiple lies from him and then that makes you want to question about the gun when he says why
00:57:46
cleaner gun for her well is that a lie as well I mean that this is evidence that he's a lying crunch never you know
00:57:55
yeah one thing that I would question this is not going to be any proof of anything but there are some gun owners
00:58:02
that don't shoot their guns they just don't shoot them you know some people regularly shoot guns and people that
00:58:10
regularly do need to clean them people that don't shoot them usually don't clean them so I would be curious as to
00:58:17
what their family thought her activities were with that firearm immediately when
00:58:23
you said there's gun owners that don't shoot their guns I was like that seems so stupid but I know a lot of people
00:58:29
that own guitars that never they never play them so yeah I have a guitar that I need to restring you have a nice guitar
00:58:37
collection for somebody that doesn't play right and in fact I have one that I need restrung and it's been in that
00:58:43
state for like two years oh one get it together colonel one day I'll have strings on that guitar does it
00:58:51
stand she will play like never before used to have a guitar that smelled like onions that's the same one oh yeah so
00:59:00
the other thing with his phone calls Eugene's cell received a call at 7:41 p.m. this is from a friend this call
00:59:08
went to his voicemail this friend was a chiropractor who later told police that he called Eugene because he had heard
00:59:16
about a woman's death on the news and wanted to be sure it was not Cherise it's not clear if this
00:59:24
chiropractor is female or male but we do know that not only is Cherise a friend but a client and and this person knew
00:59:34
Eugene and Cherise equally as well correct yeah the the cell tower information showed that when this call
00:59:45
came in to Eugene's cell phone the pinging ping the ping yeah the phone pinged off a tower that was near the
00:59:52
murder site specifically the tower Eugene's phone pinged with this 741 call was east of a
01:00:01
different tower that was closer to his home which Eugene's phone would most likely have pinged off had he been at
01:00:09
home of at the time of this call the call hit the sector of this further tower that correlated with where Cherise
01:00:19
was killed the southern sector of the tower whereas if Eugene had been at home and for some reason the call pinged the
01:00:28
further away tower okay that's just right so there's a hell out of me all right I wasn't clear with that what I'm
01:00:36
trying to say is there's a southern sector tower and there's a western sector tower
01:00:41
right sorry a and tower be correct it hit off of the opposite one it hit the off of the one closest to where her body
01:00:48
was found not the tower that was closest to his home as what detectives were originally told would be the situation
01:00:56
had he been at home so this as you pointed out he's lying already about some things and we know this from the
01:01:03
phone records now police believe he's lying even more because we have the phone records that don't match with this
01:01:11
story and we have this cell phone tower ping information that do not match with his story
01:01:18
all right so Eugene bo-peep we know he's a lying [ __ ] princess but but what does
01:01:24
this mean is he just lying or where is he miss remembering or well it's a little more damning than that because
01:01:33
that was a really long way of saying this okay according to the cell tower data Eugene's phone was not at his home at
01:01:43
741 at the time that that call came in from the chiropractor friend we're about an hour and a hour and ten minutes after
01:01:51
Cherise was found but even more damning than that according to this the cell tower data the phone was down near the
01:01:59
White River and the West New York Street Bridge this is near where she parked her
01:02:05
car near where her body was found right and Eugene did tell police of course they're going to ask him this
01:02:12
question once they have this other information he tells police that no one else would have had access to his phone
01:02:20
meaning by his own admission that if in fact his phone was there in the area that she was killed at 7:41 the phone
01:02:29
was with him right so Eugene told detectives that the cell phone records could not be accurate when
01:02:37
they confronted him with this information this is in regard to the 1109 call he says that that can't be
01:02:46
accurate because he was already at the scene at that time learning about his wife's death from a detective at 11:09
01:02:54
right again that doesn't gel with the information that we have on record the record shows that he actually didn't
01:03:02
arrive on the scene until 11:23 p.m. he Eugene reiterated that he had tried to call his wife beginning around 9:30 when
01:03:12
he realized she wasn't home yet he also said that at least one of the deleted calls was from his wife so they found
01:03:20
three deleted calls he states one of the deleted calls was from his wife all of these statements there there
01:03:30
contradicted by the actual phone records Eugene continued to talk to investigators and in summary he told
01:03:40
police that his wife would not have killed herself the two had just joined a new church and they were baptized again
01:03:48
also Cherise was a happy person and they enjoyed each other although their marriage wasn't perfect he said that
01:03:57
there was no way that Mayday and tsunami would let anyone near Cherise he said there was no way a stranger could harm
01:04:06
her and those dogs still be around he said he didn't believe that there was anyone who would want to harm his wife
01:04:14
and it seems to me he inadvertently is pointing the finger at himself whatever struggles you are facing from
01:04:32
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love today that's better help calm slash garage we want to thank everybody out there for listening we want to thank you
01:05:11
for telling a friend also thank you to everyone who shares these cases and these stories on social media these
01:05:19
cases need people's attention especially this one join us back here in the garage
01:05:24
tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't let [Music]

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  • 75
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  • 70
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Episode Highlights

  • Cherise Walker Bingham's Tragic Murder
    Cherise was shot and killed in 2012, leaving her family seeking justice.
    “Someone very special was taken away far too early.”
    @ 04m 08s
    November 06, 2019
  • Annual Vigil for Cherise
    Each year, her family marks the anniversary of her death with a vigil.
    “We want to keep praying about it and justice will prevail.”
    @ 04m 55s
    November 06, 2019
  • The Mystery of Cherise's Death
    Investigators explore whether her death was an accident, suicide, or homicide.
    “Was this an accident, a suicide, a homicide?”
    @ 18m 30s
    November 06, 2019
  • Cherise's Love for Her Dogs
    Cherise cared for her dogs like children, making her alleged suicide unlikely.
    “You wouldn't go to an area with the purpose of killing oneself and leave your most beloved out there.”
    @ 25m 40s
    November 06, 2019
  • Investigation Findings
    Physical evidence suggests Cherise's death was not a suicide, but a murder.
    “It would be impossible for her to have killed herself.”
    @ 28m 42s
    November 06, 2019
  • The Gun's Role in the Case
    Cherise was shot with her own gun, raising questions about the circumstances of her death.
    “This indicates that either the shooter got very close to her risking a dog attack.”
    @ 47m 08s
    November 06, 2019
  • Eugene's Alibi Unravels
    Eugene's timeline of events raises serious questions about his involvement in Cherise's death.
    “This is beyond strange; it's what you would call impossible.”
    @ 54m 37s
    November 06, 2019
  • The Dogs' Behavior
    Eugene claims the dogs would not allow a stranger near Cherise, raising suspicions about his statements.
    “He inadvertently is pointing the finger at himself.”
    @ 01h 04m 17s
    November 06, 2019

Episode Quotes

  • We just can't give up.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348
  • Things done in the dark will come to light.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348
  • The pain is still there. It will never go away.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348
  • It would be impossible for her to have killed herself.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348
  • This indicates that either the shooter got very close to her risking a dog attack.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348
  • Whatever struggles you are facing, BetterHelp can connect you with a professional counselor.
    Sherese Walker Bingham /// Part 1 /// 348

Key Moments

  • Welcome to True Crime Garage00:40
  • Vigil for Justice04:37
  • Cherise's Background07:31
  • Cherise's Character25:35
  • Unusual Circumstances27:03
  • Marriage Struggles50:37
  • Eugene's Alibi51:40
  • Mental Health Support1:04:32

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown