Episode 189: William Balfour Sr. (Part 1 of 2)

0:14 Hello, and welcome to the Catch My Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening. My name is Mark. For nearly eight years, I've written a weekly newspaper column about true crimes and missing people for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio. With the column and podcast, it has been my objective to bring attention to those cases that have not received much media attention, if any at all. This week's story involves the homicide of an elderly Munsee, Indiana grandfather named William Balfour Senior, who was murdered on July two, twenty nineteen. He was seventy years old when he was beaten at death and then left on the side of the road. Who killed the silverly grandfather and why. For nearly four years, I've interviewed many people who were seeking justice for family and friends that have been murdered. It's been my experience that criminal activity and lifestyle choices often lead to someone either disappearing or being murdered. But then you have cases where people are murdered for no apparent reason. An elderly grandfather named William Balfour's Senior would be one of those individuals. For this week's episode, I interviewed Consuela and Lascha Balfour, who are both William's daughters and are seeking justice for

1:48 their beloved father. William Balfour Senior was a retired grandfather. The months he resident enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. According to Lasha and Sula, William was definitely the family patriarch. William's youngest daughter spoke to him daily, cooked meals for him, and did everything she could to make his life comfortable. She was definitely a daddy's girl who has nothing left of her father, but fond memories of him. Both sisters took great pride and taking care of their father. They made sure the elderly handicapped man never overexerted himself.

2:28 He had grandsons and other family members to take care of any physical tasks that needed to be done. His children just wanted to make sure that William enjoyed his retirement, spent time with his family and friends, and relaxed. Before eleven pm on July first, twenty nineteen, Plasheya facetimed her father. He then changed into his pajamas before getting ready for bed. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be getting any rest that evening, William's daughter, Consuela, said a female friend had shown up at the house and requested a ride home. William got out of bed and left with this friend. Family members said that the trip to her home should not have taken very long. William had often given her rides in the past, so the request wasn't suspicious. A few hours later, Lescheya's son became concerned when his grandfather had not returned home. He had to call the friend because his grandfather had left his phone at home. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to speak to his grandfather's friend because she did not answer her phone. The next morning, the family discovered that William's two thousand and one Lincoln had been courted off by law enforcement. His vehicle had become a crime scene. William, still in his pajamas, was discovered outside his vehicle at Blaine and Centennial. Someone had beaten the elderly grandfather to death. His skull was bashed in and his teeth were all knocked out. The beating was

4:01 violent and fatal. Family members were stunned by William's death. No one could understand why anyone would want to kill the elderly man. Everyone loved him, and he had no known enemies. The family also noticed that the friend who was with William was not at the crime scene. Consuela got into her vehicle and searched for the friend. She found the friend walking down a road. Consuela picked her up and drove her to the Munsey police station. According to Consuela and Laschia, law enforcement let the friend leave without filing any charges against her. Consuela then began investigating her father's death on her own. She spoke with a witness who lived with her father's friend. According to him, the woman came home upset. She allegedly had blood on her clothing and had defecated on herself. Acording to the witness, the friend said that she had just murdered someone. She then recanted her statement and said that she was only kidding after cleaning herself up. He said that she left in a hurry when she made this statement. The man that lived with the friend had not known about William being killed. He presented Consuela with an article of bloody clothing that belonged to the friend. Law enforcement refused to accept the evidence because they weren't the ones who had seized it. I had asked both sisters why law enforcement didn't

5:34 arrest her father's friend. Both said that she claimed that she did not know anything about their father's death. According to her, he must have been killed after he drove her home. However, this contradicts the witness's statement, who said she came home upset with blood on her clothing. The witness said that she was frantic and was in a hurry to leave. Four years have passed since someone brutally beat William Balfour Senior to death. Consuela has photographs of her father's beaten body. According to her, she has refused to let other family members see the photos because she feels that they are too brutal. The family is frustrated with the investigation and have requested that the Munsey Police Department transfer the case to the Indiana State Police. They believe that the Indiana State Police would be better suited to work on their father's case. Family members believe that William's friend knows more about his death than she's ever revealed. This is the first part of a two part story. Be sure to listen next week to the conclusion and now on with the story of William Balfour Senior. As told by his daughters, Consuela and Lasha Balfour. So tell me about your father, William Balfour Senior. When and where was he born. He was born in Mundsey on April seventeenth of nineteen forty nine. He had three brothers and he

7:09 had five sisters. Actually, because one died when he was young. My father was the middle of the three brothers. His parents died when he was young, so I really don't know a whole lot about my grandparents because they were deceased when I was born. He was raised by a family member and grew up, you know, by his auntie that raised him and two other sisters. The other siblings were raised by a different aunt So my father he grew up, graduated from high school, and he started working at General Motors, where he retired from. So he met my mom. They got married and had four kids, myself as the oldest. I had two brothers and a sister. It sounds like your father lived a pretty good life. I mean General Motors back in the day, that was definitely a great place to work. Your dad came up in the days where you could get a job right out of high school, make good money and stay there and actually retire.

8:13 Yeah, and that's what he did. He retired from General Motors. So, like I said, he raised four kids and once he retired, he just was at home. Him and my mom ended up to forcing though when I was around fifteen. So, but they end up remaining still cordial, close friends. He's still holidays, we still sent together things like that. There was no animosity where both our parents was not around at some holiday or something. They were generally around. People thought it was trained some the fid because my mom ended up getting remarried, but my dad still was always welcoming around. So as life went on, we all grew up and had grandkids and things like that. My dad he worked on cars, always working in the yard. He loved to cook on the grill. On the holiday we would go to my mother's and then my mom ended up passing in two thousand ten, so then like all the family events went to my dad's house, and so we would always go to his house for the holidays. He was well known in our community. They know him as mister Balfour. He helped whoever he could help. Like I said, he worked on his cars.

9:26 He would see him at AutoZone getting some kind of part or at Walmart Bayh's Top. He loved phipsy, so that's what he did. He drink a lot of pipsy, and he worked on cars, worked in the yard, or cooked on the grill. He didn't party, he didn't drink anything like that. He was with his family, his grandkids, is what he did. And while I was doing research on this case, I was looking at different theories online about why someone would have wanted to harm your father, and one of the theories that I saw was connected to one of his grandsons. I guess one of your nephews was on trial for homicide or something along those lines. But it was serious legal issues, and supposedly your father was killed in retaliation of something that his grandson had done. Do you think there's anything to that. I know it's just someone's very but what do you think about that? Okay? So I had two nephews who had got in some trouble and the victim, my father's African American first, and my family is the victim of the case with my nephews was a white victim, a young white male. And what we were told is that this family has connections in Muncie, and we was told that when my nephew went to trial, hey,

11:00 we had a hung jury. And they were furious. People was upset about my nephews getting a hung jury. They had basically placed an attorney on his cap that they thought was not going to give a care and was not going to fight for my nephews. And this attorney fought his pelle off and it was a hung jury. So the day that my father was murdered was the anniversary of that victim of that case. My father was killed on the anniversary of the victim of my nephew's case. We were sent a message by someone in the community that a police officer and Monkey had told them and I don't know the police officer's name, I didn't know the person that came to us that there was a letter sent to Monkey police that said there would be another one killed. When we contacted the police, they were more so worried about what police officer told us and the fact that if there was a really a letter or not out there that came to them. They wanted to know who told us and which police officer more or less not telling us if it really was a letter out there, or not, because at the time, we're thinking, Okay, my father's then got killed on this guy's day of his death, of his anniversary. Now we're being told that someone else in my family better be careful because someone else is going to be taken out.

12:24 So we felt like it had something to do with that case. Now, what kind of a relationship did your dad have with his nephews? Was he close to them? Those were his grandson? Oh okay, my apologies, his grandsons. Can you tell me about their relationship. Yeah, that was his grandson and the one grandson is the third. His name is actually William Balfo the third, So my dad was William Balfoort the senior and those were his grandkids. So yeah, he was close to him. Okay, now I'd like to go back to the day that you found out that someone had killed your father. Tell me what you remember about that day. My sister had called me and said my dad hadn't been home all night, had left to give. We had a family friend that my dad knew for over twelve thirteen years. The lady my dad helped her quite a bit. Her kids had been in trouble a few times. He let them stay with them.

13:28 They came over, they came to our family functions, things like that. Later in life, the lady ended up getting on drugs at one point, but still we allowed them come around. We didn't act funny. We still helped when we can help. The same person was over my house. It was like Father's Day, the holiday before my dad got killed. She was just at our house eating dinner and she there. She came over that night and asked my dad to give her a ride. My dad got out to bed, my nephew and my brother was there. He up getting out the bed to go give her a ride wherever she quote said she needed to go, and I was at home sleep. I didn't know he got up to go give anybody a ride. The next morning I'll find out he had got up and gave her a ride and never came at home. So when I got the call, I woke my son. Daughter had called off everybody.

14:20 He just didn't stay out like all night. He was seven years old, you know, he didn't need to go staying no where. He had on house and we were searching and got a call that his car was on the side of a road out here in the dominant black neighborhood. His car was out there and the police was called and it was roped off by the time I got there, and my dad was laying outside of the car. He still had his pajamas one and he was laying outside behind the car, and the police was there and it roped off and he was deceased. And when you know, we just like, what happened? Where's the lady? Where's she at? He left to give her a ride. The police officer sending around is like, I don't know if I still remember. The prosecutor was there, and I'll never forget. He came up to me something like, well, what do you think happened? And I'm thinking, in my mind, what are you asking me? What do I think happened? You're freaking supposed to be the specialist. You see his body, what do you think happened? Like, I don't know. I was just so angry. But come to find out, she was nowhere to be found. And the police told us that it looked like had been killed by trauma, blunt force or something, and they was asking us do we know if he had any objects in the car that someone could have hurt him with, and like no,

15:52 he doesn't have anything in his car, no skits and all that stuff. So after all of that, I left the scene eventually, and my siblings we all left the scene going to look for this woman and I end up finding her and walking down the street and I called police to tell him I found her. Here is the woman that got my dad out of the house that night. And they was like, don't do anything to her, we're on our way or whatever, and I'm like, no, she's right here. She's getting in my car with me and I'm bringing her to you guys. And so I got her in the car. She didn't want again, and I told her, she you're gonna get in this car because you're going down here to tell them what happened to my dad. And took her down to the police station. And they met us there and told us to stay in the car while they got her out of the car. And it is and then we find out that they let her go like an hour or two hours after she was there. They let her go because she said she didn't know what happened to my father and she didn't have anything to do with it.

16:56 And I'm thinking ringing someone that last scene, a person alive, just tell you they didn't have anything to do with it, and you just let him go. Where do they do that at? I don't understand that. So long story short. After all of that, we end up finding out when I seen her walking, she was going to this man's house, and I end up getting a call that she was going to his house, and I went over there to talk to him, and he told me that she had came over there early in the wee hours and said she had just witnessed the murder and he was going to call the police, and that this woman said, no, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Don't call the police. So he didn't call the police. But she changed her clothes and worshed them, and his works her and dry, and she worshed her clothes, are changed clothes, that she had a bow movement on herself, and she had he thought looked like maybe blood or something. But she changed clothes and he had gave her some clothes to put on. His first name is Wayne, he said when he did called the police to tell him that there was a jacket outside his house and that it possibly could be blood on it.

18:06 They telling him that they did not need that item because it did not have nothing to do with their investigation. So they wouldn't even go collect the jacket that he thought she might have threw outside his house with blood on the jacket, So he contacted my family against I went over there and I called the detectives and I even got text message from the detectives. They told me that I can go get the jacket and put it in the bag and bring it the city hall to them, and I end up doing that, not knowing that once I did that, it made that evidence could not be actually used because I could have possibly placed blood on it or something of that nature.

18:48 So that would avoid that item. But I didn't know. But this is what we was dealing with the police, like they wasn't trying to get any evidence or anything. And you let this one and go, and you got a man that fans She came to his house saying she had just witnessed the murder, and you let her go. And so what we end up finding out is after they let her go, they knew she was leaving town. They didn't tell us. We end up finding out later that she had a ticket to leave on the Greyhound bus and they knew she was gonna leave, so she ended up leaving town. And then we found out more evidence, like she was at a man's house prior to go into my dad's asked for a ride. Someone called her on her phone and the man said that she would saying my father's name, and she had someone picker up from his house and take her to my dad's house, Which is strange. Why would you have someone call you and you tell them on my dad's name and then you go to my dad and say you need a right when you actually was in a car with someone. It just it didn't make sense. It was like, what's going on if she had a ride and she left this man's house in a car, but then she goes to my dad's house and asked for a ride, And she didn't stay at my dad's house like she was there visiting for a few minutes and then needed a ride. She literally came over there and knocked on the door, my nephew said, asked for a ride, and my dad got up and they left. So why have somebody

20:22 bring you there to get a ride. And then like it just didn't add up, and she did leave her house. Her curse at the man's house where she was on the phone act. He said she left her purse and her cell phone and told him to continue to answer her phone all night. If it rings, just don't talk, just answer it and hang up. And we told the police this. Do you know it took them five to six months to ever go get this man's statement. They would not go get his statement. We kept calling him, kept calling him. I kept going over to his house, asked him how they been there. They would not go this man's statement. It took him like five months. I have note like in a documentation that we keep, but it took him several months.

21:03 It's like the police would not go collect evidence. So at this time we start thinking, what is the police covering up? You refused to go investigate my father's murder. This is a seventy year old man that his left hand did not work because of a pinched nerves, so he couldn't use his left hand that much, and so here he is murdered. And at the time we didn't know how bad he was murdered. But when we had my father's funeral, the funeral home that took it up on their self because they seen the injury on my father and they couldn't believe how bad my father was. A beat Whoever killed my father they used something invested his head. That explained why the police asked us about something in his car that could have caused a fracture to it, you know, something of that nature. The funeral home end up giving me pictures, and I end up in the pictures. But come to find out, say, bust my father's skull open. He's seventy years old. He had never lost a tooth. He was proud of himself cause his dinners always told him he had strong teeth to be an old, older man, and never lost the tooth. They knocked out almost all my father's keeps out of his mouth. They broke his eye socket, and they choked him so strong that his collar bone busted through his shoulder. And you told me the police don't let it find out who did this. That's over

22:33 till of a seventy year old defenseless man, and they won't help us. We asked them, and I feel like again we go back to my nephe's case. They're pissed off about my nephew in that situation, and because you pissed off about that, you refuse to do your job on my father's case and it just pisses me off. And then the ray my father's cart was pulled over to the side of the road. We were like, why would that even pull over like that get the police puliem over? Is it pop that the police is involved, because we also end up finding out that we have police officers now if you google it and find out Chase Linkol being the main lead police officer and his father was the chief of police for this story.

23:21 I wanted to understand why Consula thought that a Munsey police officer might have beaten her father or been involved with his death, because I had read in some different articles online that the family had questioned whether law enforcement was involved or not. So I wanted to learn more about former Munsey police officer Chase Swinkle. I was able to find information about him on the United States Department of Justice website, and I wanted to read some of the information that I found out about this guy. Chase Swinkle, a former police officer with the Munsey Police Department in Munsey, Indiana, pled guilty today to eleven civil rights and obstruction charges. Specifically, wink will plead guilty to five federal civil rights offenses for assaulting arrestees and to six obstruction offenses for writing false reports to cover up the assaults. Officer Winkle, the son of a former chief of police, confessed to repeated uses of excessive force and obstruction of justice. Set Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. This defendant's misconduct injured his victims and undermined the police department's credibility with the community. We hope that this guilty police sends a message that neither a badge nor familial connections will shield

24:52 an officer from facing justice for his wrongdoing. Today's guilty police are an important step forward as we seek justice for the victims in this case, said US Attorney Zachary A. Myers for the Southern District of Indiana. Our office, the Department of Justice, and our federal partners are firmly committed to holding law enforcement officers accountable when they violate their oaths and the civil rights of the people they were sworn to protect. According to court documents and statements made during the change of plea hearing honor about August ninth, twenty eighteen, Winkle and another officer arrested a civilian identified as LG. As LG was lying on the ground with the other officer holding both of LG's hands behind his back, LG directed a verbal insult towards the officers. In response to the insult, officer Winkle, using his knee, dropped his full body weight down onto LG's neck and head area. LG screamed out in pain and yelled that Winkle had crushed his face. A few moments later, Winkle deployed taser prongs and to LG's back and activated the taser. Officer Winkle's use of force caused severe bodily injury to LG and multiple facial fractures that required surgery. Following the incident, Winkle wrote a false report about what happened. Based on what I've read about Winkle in

26:25 the time this was going on, it's not difficult to understand why pen Swiler's family has concerns about the police department and why they want the investigation being handled by the Indiana State Police. They had been going through months beaten up people and beating people with their police stick. There's charges of them using assessed force on people. There's a main isem He got beat by the police real bad here. He had a lawsuit and one quite a bit of money. Where Winkle and his whole crew. I think it was a night crew they called there. They did some kind of night crew. They was going through challenge, just beating people. Mother, gentleman. He wanted a loss suit.

27:08 They pulled him over and pulled him out the car, and they waited for Chase Winkle to get there, and then they just savagely beat this man. So I'm wondering, did they do this to my father? Then you don't want to investigate it? Is it because your officer might be involved? At this point, I don't trust you. You don't want to solve it. Why not? He was instant, he didn't have a record. My father never been in trouble, He didn't hurt nobody, worked like I said. He worked until he retired. That was it, and you don't want to solve it. So we asked them to pass it on to the Stay police, and they refused to do it. They said the case is still open, but yet they haven't done anything on the case. Based on the criminal actions of Chase Winkle. The family doesn't trust the months he police to apartment and has unsuccessfully requested the Indiana State Police take over the investigation. The family doesn't feel as if the Monsey Police Department have put much of an effort into William's case. We will take a short break and return with Consuayla's sister, Bashaya discussed her relationship with her father and his homicide. So tell me about

28:41 your father and your relationship with him. What do you remember most about him. I remember my daddy was always at the work. It had been on motors. He was always at work. I remember he was a preacher. If he wasn't at work, he would stay working on car. He just he was just always busy as busy, busy, busy. As far as when I was a kid, I just was real, real close to him because that's just my dad. I was the baked girl, so that's probably why. But he was not a mean person. We didn't get in trouble. He'd give us anything. He'd get anybody in there. I don't know. He just my dad and he was a great man. I said, there's not a lot of'em around here. And I just see how he took care of home, took care of my mom and as kids I was just seeing it all. I remember. We had a close relationship to where when I started having children, he was right there with me. That's how close up that's my dad. I wanted my dad there. My mom couldn't handle me having kids, like being in the room or none of that.

29:42 But he was strong. He was like there with me. And even though that I was in paid, but he was there. Okay. So he grew relationships with my children, my boys. I have five boys. One pathway, my dad was close to them. He used to keep them when I worked the babysit. He would take in the school, do everything that he have a baby sitter Grandpa would do. Daddy to thy busy. He loved the cook he loved barbecue, He loved all day. He just wanted his family to be happy. You know, them kids could get anything. Are you Williams youngest child? I'm the youngest girl. Okay. And how many siblings do you have? If them girls and two boys? Okay, so there's four of you. M Yeah. After speaking with both you and your sister, sounds me like you all had a great childhood. He came up from a good home, have great parents that loved you were supportive.

30:38 Yeah, we did. But they eventually separated, but we still with it around, like he still would come and get it from the weekend. He would lived in Marriam, he would keep come and get it from a weekend. Eventual way he moved here to Moncie, so we did get the same a lot. But after a while he got his own house. I think he moved here and moved in with me until he was able to get him a home, and I think that's how it went. But yet he was up here. There was not a day that I didn't get to talk to my dad. If you see me, see him like we have a real close relationship. My baby. I have an eight year old son. He kept him while I worked, so I seen him every morning and after work. I see just all the time. I knew there wasn't a day that I didn't see my dad. So tell me about your experience and learning about your father's death. Tell me about that. Okay, So at about ten o'clock at night, my son, he is twenty five now, he was standing there with my dad and my brother. He called me. He was like, mom, Grandpa left and he'd been gone for a while, and that is not like Grandpa and me being the way that I am, and I know my dad when he would leave with this lady, he would leave his phone home because she would go through her phone and start arguments with him him about other women and go through his phone always something, so he would leave his phone home. So I didn't think anything of it. I said, he'll be home. I said, you know, Grandpa, he'll be home, and he said yeah, but Mama, he would have been bad by now because he was living there, for he knew more than I did

32:12 that something was not right. And I said okay. I called her phone pipe out fifteen twenty times. I said on the message, I said, if he talked to my dad, he said him, call me, are you still with my dad? No response, no response, So I'm daddy calling her. I'm I probably called her until five o'cu the morning. No response, So being a divine my son, I he called me now. I called her, called his cell phone. I said, Daddy home, Yet he was like nope. He said, Mamma, if you think he's okay, then I don't want over to my girlfriend's house. And I figure out in the morning. I said okay, but they didn't go home. They went looking for my daddy. They didn't find him. Come to find out, they rolled down a street that would right next to where my daddy was laying, but they met. They didn't go down the street that he was going, but they were thirteen to third though. My son went home, so I don't know if it was seven o'clock, might even six something in the morning when my sons one of his kids, the mother called me because somebody was trying to reach me on Facebook and they couldn't get me because I don't keep messenger up. If she had reached out, she used to come around with the boys. She had called one of the kids, the boy's baby mom, and they were like, I think Grandpa's cars roped off.

33:25 The girl was like, he went and drove by Grandpa. This is what she said. She drove by grandpaw cows and his car wasn't home, so she believed that's his car. And I said, okay, and I called the girl myself and I thought she said, yeah, I think they got even broke up by getting my sign up. The one that was living here and my baby and my son's father and we left and we drove down centenniol with doctor Fintanio. We drove right past the street. Mind you, when we drove past the street, all I've seen was my daddy's car on the right of me. I never see my dad, never seen his shoes or anything. So we went to around the corner and parked where we can police and they came back. My brother came. They got out and everybody but me. I wouldn't get up the kind of sending his back feet.

34:07 I didn't want to hear nothing. I covering my ear. They said that they came and asked my brother, who was his dentist. Then at my brother's home. He didn't they they asked me and they said they didn't know. I didn't know. At this time, I didn't know anything. I couldn't think. And when they came back to the car, they was like it was bad. They can't identify him. And I said one I'm thinking, I'm okay, I can't handle it better if he had a stroke or a heart attack or something. Not nobody it's up beating like that. So I went. We went back around in the corner to where I first came to that road where everybody was blocked it off. They blocked it off and my father's legs and stuff was laying right there. I had didn't see that. I looked down there when I drove by, and he couldn't move his hands. He said, you had thought he had a stroke. He couldn't barely walk. He was handicapped. They walked real flow, he couldn't hardly move. It was time we had to go on the grocery store. He would apologize everybody because it took him so long to get his card and stuff out. And I used to tell that he don't be sorry. It happened.

35:08 It's okay, I'm right here. I can help you. But as I said before, the police they were there and made us leave so they could get him up. They took the car to the pound. Our car was ready about an hour later, ready to be Really it looked like it had been cleaned out because my son, my youngest and not my youngest son, the one that was living there with him, had took the car before. My daddy had last in the car, so he knows how if it was dirty or wet, but my dad the great kids had made it messy. You was dirty. But when they picked the car up from the pound, the car was thick in spin. Now, when you arrived at the crime scene, did you see your dad? They wasn't the being. Yeah, all i've seen was leg No, I didn't get to see him.

35:52 They identified him the next day. LU. But when you got to the car and you real there was a dead body, I'm assuming that you knew in your heart that was your dadda. I could tell by the pants and his hand and his shoe landing the street. And I'm assuming that when you saw him you had no idea that someone had killed him. Probably didn't know if maybe he had a heart attack or a stroke or what happened to him. Did you No, they wouldn't allow us to see him. They fitted was too bad. Yeah, they wouldn't allow us to get that clothes. They was trying to identify him by his teeth. I guess all of his teeth was knocked out of his mouth and they were all over his body.

36:35 Thought they were trying to identify him by that. Because you couldn't identify him at all. I thought that I would have been able to handle it better if it was natural causes, because the way that that he was beaten so bad, like ooh, and why would y'all want to be the old man. He's handicapped. He can't do anything. If you wanted his money, just pick the money and go on. I'm so confused on that. I don't understand. And it Andy, And when we went to see the mayor, they were like this with a hate crime. Well yeah, nobody helping us to try to figure out why somebody would do that. The hill. Now, I would like to go back to the friend. So she comes to your dad's house, your dad gives her a ride. She's the last one to be seen with your dad, and yet she claims she has no idea what happened to him. It's all confusing to me that the police just let her go. I mean, did they not suspect that she was involved?

37:37 And that's why they let her go? Why didn't she get arrested or charged with anything? They never they never quokened her. Well, I guess they took her in, but they let her go. Now I know to the day that she id then involved or see no exactly what happened is because if there was not a morning that she would pet go by, if she would my father up for a ride, okay, every morning, every morning he would get up and give her a ride wherever she had to go, seven eight o'clock. When you get to his phone, now, one time has she called his phone And that's not like her. If you go back putting his phone record, you will see every morning she woke him up, it was like clockwork. She needed a ride and he would pick her up.

38:21 So for her to be walking when when my sister seeing her walking, she read to have a ride. And then when my sister asked her what happened with her and dance, she was like, she don't know. She took and he took me home. But I knew she was lying, but the police didn't my things. I don't understand why she was in a suspect because they left her go right away, even though she told them she was the last person who whist. He told them that he dropped her off at home. That's what she told them. So according to her, he dropped her off at her house and then whatever happened to him must have happened after he left her house. And that's her story. Yeah, that's her a story. And then we talked to people like I can't think of his name, but she lived there with this guy. He said when she came home at five o'clock in that morning. She was a nervous threat, and she told him she was just involved in a murder and she had a ballot movement on herself. She got in the shower and she changed her clothing, wigs and left. So then the guy, the Ricky Hughes guy that passed away, Now this is where she was at before she got with my dad.

39:34 She was over his house and she kept asking the phone and she said, my father's names William Balfour whatever, and she said, okay. He called my daddy, told him he needed a ride. She told Ricky that she was gonna leave her from there, but don't answer it. Be flighted it so to make like sees rejecting the call, like his asses don't just not answered, like make some kind of movement of makes it like if you're rejecting a call. And if she left her cell phone, he said, don't answer it. So he said that he didn't know what that was about. So he said he had been trying to reach us and trying to find out because when he found out that next morning, how I was, He said, when she came there, he was in a rust trying to get there.

40:15 Well, I'm gonna take you back. A couple of days before this happened, my nephew went to trial, and I came home and my dad had my kid and he was sitting there and she called his phone. And she's always just got on nerves. He feels like, I'm thick of her. I'm ready for her to get go back to Michigan. It's to Detroit, he said, I'm ready for her to go. He said, I didn't got her a bus ticket to go, And he said, she's going nerves about this ticket, so I'm going and give it this ticket. He said, I'm getting tired of her, like like he was just her. He was just on him, on him, on him. She knew exactly when he got paid. So that day she had called him, but he ended up. They ended up hanging up and I told him, I said, he why don't you just leave him her along? He thought, I didn't get her kickt Now Figurin moved back to Michigan and I'm heck, now that was twa before he got killed. And he said, and I'm just happy, oh and fith, but she's just getting on my nerve. Like deal with Maggie and bugging him. You know, you get older, he can't take but so much. After listening to the details leading up to William's homicide, I couldn't help but wonder more about the friend who asked for the ride. She was the last person to be seen with William before he was killed. I had questions about the relationship. We will take a final break and listen to Lushaia explain the relationship between her father and this family friend.

41:49 Now, what was it the extent of the relationship between your father and this family friend. Were they just friends? Were they dating? What was the relationship? Like? Okay, they had been dealing with each other for a long time. I can't even tell you how many year and her kids were little kept getting put in cow protection, so my daddy was like, he would rescue them, he would live with him. So him and her was basically like dating until Stephen on I moved on about our own and then my daddy just lived his life. But he was involved in some way, if it was him giving her money for belled or you know, just always needed something to ride something, but he's always helped it. We haven't been on vacations with them and everything. My dad was the contact number for them kids when they get in trouble. So it sounds like basically your entire family considered this woman a friend at one time. Yeah, and your entire family was probably on good terms with her in the past. Yes, yeah, Okay, So he saw in your family's history with this woman, and it sounds like your father did a lot for her. I guess the next thing that I would want to ask is if your father was giving her rides and giving her money and treating her like a family member, what possible reason would she

43:19 have for wanting to harm him. It sounds like he actually was a good friend to her, and probably your entire family was good to her, So I don't understand why she would want to do anything to hurt the family. Right. So, I feel like the way I got it, if she couldn't have him to her fell, nobody could. And I remember my brother's girlfriend had told us, but she told us this after he passed away. They were working at Burger King on Madison here in monthy and I give my daddy and her I got into it. So my brother's girlfriend would working with her, and she felt, I'm gonna kill him one day. I'm a killing one day. That's something that you come back and tell somebody, no matter if you think they're playing or not. You don't know if they're playing.

44:07 You don't know them well enough to know if they're playing or if they just talk. But she eventually told us after it happened that she was going to kill him. So if jealousy was a possible motive, why would she be jealous? Was your father dating someone else? Yeah? He had people, He had other friends. None of'em was considered in a relationship. But she wanted me, I guess. I think of the way that she acted and the way he would tell me if she just wanted me to be with her, he said, I'm entitled to have friends. She's not my woman. She was married. She married then, she's been here in Indiana. She was married. When didn't happened? I don't know. But that's another thing that worried me. She was married and I didn't know. So after my father passed, the way that the husband came and they had had worked with my dad, And I'm assuming that the police have spoken to the husband. The other they took, they talked to all of them. They even tough to all well, they said that they did DNA on them.

45:04 That's what one of this family member told me not to love ago. Probably last year they did DNA on him. And four years later, the police haven't made a single arrest. No, they fail that proper kids offer the fifth They never had a case because they never had a best bit. Have you learned anything new about the investigation. What's going on with the investigation today? Well, really, they haven't done nothing. Nobody's talked to us. They interviewed my son this year that lived with my dad interviewed him, which they tried to use that as an excuse of why they couldn't go along with the investigation until they talked to my friend. So they interviewed him. It's like they basically so that they're not working on his case. They won't let the state take over, and they won't find it over to the state.

45:52 And if the fates went to work, why won't y'all allow them to? What are y'all hiding? Why wouldn't you want to give that over? They'll sarve every other case, but here you got a fevdeo handicap man's beat to where you cannot even recognize him. I mean literally beat him. Everything about him was broken, and y'all just like, oh well, and then when we ask you guys to get it over to the state, then you don't. They won't. I really think that with all the details about this case, that the friend she has to know more than what she has said. And it just seems odd that you don't hear anything about her. I mean, there's nothing in the media about her, there's no information about her.

46:35 You just don't hear anything about her. And yet she's a significant part of this story. And another thing, she had rub charged, like serious rub charges before this happened. They all disappeared. And one about your local media. Have you spoken to them about your father's story. I know you have because I've seen something on the news, but it's been years. Do you try to get a hold of them on a regular basis or perhaps on anniversaries of say his birthday or when he was killed. I've been on the noon with I can't think of his name right now, But they came down here, they were with us at the scene and everything. They interviewed us all we don't win worldwide, but but there's still nobody's saying anything. And a woman we have not seen her the next day, didn't hold her or her phone, but they wanted our dad's phone. They wanted my fund's phone.

47:32 It just didn't make sense to me. But she says she was with him. As then a couple of her belongings was in my dad's car. As then you take a car to it the impound and it's an investigation, and it's done in an hour. That's never possible. The car came back spick and span. It was queen like he had been detailed. And it sounds like over the past four years you haven't learned anything new. So you don't know anything more today than what you knew four years ago. That's how it sounds to me. Yeah, nothing has changed. Now. Tell me about what you miss the most about not having your dad and your life anymore.

48:19 What's missing from your life? What did the killer take away from you and your family? It's just not the same. I used to be able to pick up the phone and call daddy. I called to my dad every day. Just seeing my whole life is completely different, not that even not here. But you always got that person that want to make everything better from a conversation, put advice to anything and I can't calling. I can't calling when I'm confused about stuff, even though I'm forty four years old. Daddy still my dad, and I would pick up that phone and acts, you know, Daddy, how do I do? How do I? Daddy? Are you hungry? Daddy? Do you want to go somewhere? Do you want? You know? I just made short heat was okay, and I can't do that. Bad bothered me. Then I got an eight year old son, and he don't understand. He talked to my dad the night before it happened that night one FaceTime, and my dad was real good about this.

49:09 He asked me, he said, did your mommy order use this power ranger helmet? If Daddy I ordered it for him? And then my baby asks him. He said, Grandpa, can you buy me a blanket like your orcs? And he was like, yeah, I'll get you one. And I loved you, fat man. I talked to Peas tomorrow, I'll tell you about love you. But we were hands on. I talked to him every day. If I had to cook for him, i'd go feeding. His hand was so messed up that I had to literally clean his hand for him. I had to keep his hand queen. It's this stuff that he couldn't do, that I had to do, that we had to do as his kid. But I'm right on being because we were close. My brother lived with him, but I was still close to my dad. It sounds to me as if you both had a very special relationship. Yes, my daddy. And it bothered me so like they didn't even that. This's how bad it was that they didn't even want to tell me when they came to the car and I had my ear covered up because I was so scared of what I was about to hear. And when they told me that, I just it seemed like I void, like I've locked my son and I have lost the son. But then I lost my dad and my niece four days later, and then my dad four months later. But it's a different void.

50:20 That's my baby A pardon me, but my father, my daddy, you know what I'm saying. It's a big it's a different and the way that he passed away really is what the problem really is that body. My son died from heart failure, but my dad got murdered, so it's a different Somebody really hurt him. Yeah, it's such a tragedy. About what happened to your dad. I mean, he was a seventy year old man that was frail and disabled. He certainly didn't deserve that type of beating. No one deserves that. But your father couldn't even fight back because he just couldn't physically. So the last question that I would have for you is what would it mean to your family to have someone come out and tell you exactly what happened to your dad four years ago? How much would that mean to you for someone to come forward with information about your dad's case that would lead to an arrest. I just want to know why they hurt my dad that all. I don't want to know. I just feel like whoever did it, they I don't know. It just I don't know how I would feel.

51:37 I don't know if I'm gonna be angry, if I'm be relieved, I don't know. I really can't tell you because it bothered me so bad. I don't know how I would feel. I want that. I want to know. I want to know because at that day I wasn't there to help him, and he expected as kids to help him, and for me not to be able to help my daddy. Guess would bother, anyone or anything. But I just want to know. I think I told my sister one day answer because I wonder what he was saying, like where are my kids? Fat? Like these people are hurting me? Where are my children? But we always went there for our daddy, but we wasn't able to be there and bothered me more than anything. But I would love to know what happens. I will give this to my daddy. And that concludes the first half of William Balfour Senior's story. William was a retired grandfather. After he retired, family was his number one priority. Without him, his family feels lost. Even worse, his killer remains at large. Who killed William Balfour Senior on July second, twenty nineteen. Someone out there knows, Perhaps you know the family is pleading for your help. How would you feel if William were your grandfather? Wouldn't you want him to receive justice? If you have a valuable tip, you can contact Muncie Crime Stoppers at seven six five two eight six four zero five zero. I will also provide this information in

53:13 the case story notes. And if you are apparent law enforcement official, friend, or relative seeking justice for an unsolved homicide case. Please visit my website and complete the contact form. Thank you for listening.