Collier Landry
Appearances
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I had to deal with this rageaholic, this up and down roller coaster of the temper and then I'm sorry and then him running around throwing things at me, calling me a stupid little fat boy because I was a chubby little kid because I had to take steroids all the time for my asthma. All this stuff and just up and down. And I was terrified of him.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Both Collier and Noreen suffered from this abuse for years, but when he was home, there was hardly ever peace. Because of this, Collier and his mother grew really close. They relied on each other and they did everything together.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Noreen was doing everything she could to give her son a good life with the circumstances they were given. His mom was his safe space, the one person who loved him unconditionally. But at the end of the day, she was suffering too. Carol Finley, Noreen's sister, told The Plain Dealer, quote, "'My sister had built up such a facade.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
She didn't like to admit that life wasn't perfect for her, but I always sensed this underlying sadness.'" "'Even with her material wealth, she wasn't happy.'" And how could she be? Not only was Jack abusing her and Collier, but he was incredibly unfaithful to her throughout their entire marriage. Some could even call him a chronic cheater.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
One of Noreen's closest friends, a woman named Shelly Bowen, would later say that when Collier was younger, Noreen and Jack went to one of his school plays that he was performing in. And during the performance, Jack stood up and left to go take a phone call. After he disappeared, Noreen rolled her eyes and told Shelly nonchalantly, quote, that's his girlfriend, end quote.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
At this point in Irene's life, things were really hard. On the outside looking in, they were the perfect family. They had status, money, a nice home, luxury cars, a beautiful family, everything she had ever dreamed of. but she was also very unhappy. Noreen knew that leaving Jack meant that her entire life would have to change.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And Jack made it very clear that if she ever left him, he would take everything from her. So Noreen made the difficult decision to stay in her marriage for the sake of her family and to distract herself from her husband's abuse. Noreen spent as much time with her son as she could. She also got involved in her community. She was a member of the Mansfield Garden Club.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
She helped others with knitting and arts and crafts. And she was very involved with Collier's school activities. But something was still missing from her life. Noreen wanted another child, specifically a daughter. But by 1989, she was in her mid 40s. She and Jack had already had trouble conceiving in the past, so she knew having a child of her own wouldn't be likely.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So that's when she decided to start the adoption process.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I don't really know exactly the whole story, but my mother wanted another child. She wasn't, uh, you know, at that time, probably able to concede can conceive. She was in her early forties. My mother wanted to, to be able to have a little girl. I think probably because she was like, well, I'm not having a kid with this man again.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And that's what she wanted as part of her, you know, part of like her needs that needed to be met. So they adopted her and, um, and then all this just started unfolding.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It was Memorial Day weekend of 1989. Collier was 11 years old and his father decided to take him out that weekend for a party. Now, Jack hardly ever spent time with his son, so this was a rare occasion. However, he didn't go to this party so that Collier could have a good time. He went there because that's where his girlfriend was spending Memorial Day weekend. and Jack wanted to see her.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Jack Boyle was about to break the one rule that his wife, Noreen, had given him, and that rule was don't involve the kids in your affairs.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I met his girlfriend in Memorial Day weekend of 1989. I was 11 years old. He took me to this party and it was like around people I had never been around. They were kind of like, you know, lived out in the sticks. There was like racing quads, playing volleyball, having a pig roast. And these are not the typical people my parents associated with.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I was riding around the quad and it was fun and all that. And, and my father, I see, he introduced me to this woman named Sherry Campbell and she had children and I was playing with her kids. I see my father walking around and he puts his arm around her. And I was like, oh, we're walking around this lake. I'm skipping stones with the kids. And I was like, oh, that's kind of weird.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I asked him later, you know, we were driving home. I said, you know, what, what's, who was that? What he goes, oh, that's a patient of daddy's and she's terminally ill. So daddy was comforting her. And I was like, oh, okay.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And again, being 11 years old, Collier believed him. But a few weeks later, when Father's Day rolled around, Collier would see Sherry Campbell again. And this time, he knew deep down that something wasn't right.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
father's day you know a few weeks later my father asked me to come to his office with him and then we go and we stop by the suntan parlor and sherry comes out with two remote control cars and and she gives me the room and i'm like oh i remember this woman and no poor thing but oh she gave me radio i'm only 11. i'm like stoked right i got to read it since father's day right
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I'm playing with a radio control car, but I look at her and I see on her ring finger, she has a ring. And it was a very unique ring. I'd never seen it before, only on my mother's finger. And I looked at her and I said, that's interesting. My mommy has a ring like that. And she's kind of giggled and looked at my father and it was just like sliding.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It was like a diamond that slid back and forth in a shaft. It was a diamond slide ring. And, you know, I played with the radio control car and then I packed it up and my father and I were leaving and I get in his truck and I look through the windshield and he's making out with her. And I'd never seen that before. And I'm like, oh man.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And so my father gets in the car and we're driving home and he goes, okay, bumper, which is my nickname as a kid. He says, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to tell mommy that I took you to my office and I gave you the radio control cars as a present for getting good grades this year. Don't tell her about Sherry. Don't tell her. And I was just like, okay.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And of course I'm terrified of my father. So I'm not going to say anything. You know, but I'm also feeling like, okay, because I grew up and I always, I think everyone who grows up with their childhood, like this is a normal childhood, right? Like this is a normal childhood. And so I just think, okay, this is what it is. And then to see that.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
my father kissing another woman, I'm thinking back to myself, like I had friends whose fathers cheated on their mothers. And so I started thinking, okay, this is, um, this is okay. Hold on. Like I'm now experiencing what my friends have told me about when their parents got a divorce.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
11-year-old Collier had just witnessed something that he knew was very wrong. But his father, the man that terrified him, told him not to say anything about it. So Collier was torn. Later that night, he and his parents would go out to a Father's Day dinner as if nothing happened. But the thought of his dad kissing another woman continued to haunt him.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And eventually, Collier knew he had to tell his mother the truth. One day, while he was playing with his remote control car in the driveway, he said he was overcome with guilt. So he went inside and called his mom over to finally tell her what he saw.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I come in and I asked my mother to sit down. I said, mommy, I have to tell you something. And I started telling her about Sherry and how I saw him kiss her and about the ring and how I met Sherry a couple of months earlier at the memorial day and this whole thing. And I said, I think he's having an affair. I don't know. I saw him kiss her and she said, well, thank you for being honest with me.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I'm not happy you lied to me, but I know why you did because your father told you to and he shouldn't have done that, et cetera. And then she goes in and she starts screaming on the phone, assuming she's yelling at my father, but that was it. They had a deal and the deal was don't involve our kid.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
My father wasn't around a lot. As I said, he was always like quote on call or he was working or whatever, or he would be sleeping on the couch and watching CNN or whatever, like three in the morning. That was my perspective on how my father was like interacting with my mother. So. I don't think they slept in the same bedroom for many years. But he was at the house less and less.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But every time he would come in, there would be an engagement or we would like go upstairs so we could avoid him. So he was coming in to get his stuff and we would try to have as little interaction with him as possible.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He started telling me, you know, around this time, like he's going to have a, you know, my mother's divorcing him. He's going to make sure that I have the worst life possible, that my mother and I are going to be broke. I'm not going to go to college. I'm going to go to public school because I went to private school at that time. He's going to turn a whole world upside down.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
She's going to be working at McDonald's by the time he's done with her. We're going to be on the street, you know, all this stuff. He's not going to support my college education. And what a wonderful life he's going to create for Sherry and her kids.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And if Jack was making these threats to his 11 year old son, I can only imagine the things he was saying to Noreen. One thing we know for sure is that she feared for her life. In fact, Noreen started telling friends that if something ever happened to her, that Jack was responsible. Sadly, she even told this to her 11 year old son.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I remember my mother was really downtrodden. This is right around Thanksgiving of that of 1989. And she said to me, she picked me up from school. We were going to go eat at this place called Bob Evans. For those of you who don't know, it's like a Midwestern staple. And she said to me in the car, she goes, Collier, I want you to know something.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Your, your father has mafia connections and I would never leave you. And if something happens to me, your father had me killed.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I had this fighting game that he had gotten me and he saw it and he goes, this is a violent game. I would never have got this for you if this was violent. I'm thinking to myself, you would call me a little bitch and a little pussy for covering my eyes when there's a violent scene in a movie or a sex scene. You would pull my eyes down and make me watch it.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And now you're upset because I'm playing a video game?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Ironically, Jack had been planning something far more violent, and that plan would come to fruition in just a few short days. On New Year's Eve of 1989, people all around America looked at their clocks and began the countdown into the new year. Usually, when the clock strikes midnight, everyone cheers. They sip their champagne, kiss their loved ones, and they celebrate.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But that wasn't the case in the Boyle household. That night, Collier kissed his mom goodnight and went to bed. but he had no idea that that would be the very last time he would ever see his mom alive. A few hours later, Collier suddenly woke up at around 3 a.m. to the sound of two loud thuds. Next, he heard his little sister scream.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Collier didn't know what to think of the sounds, but they frightened him. And for just a moment, Think about what it was like when you were nine, 10, 11 years old, waking up in the dead of night. The shadows made by trees on your window pane are a monster reaching out for you. The click and grind of a radiator was a creature rising from the depths to swallow you whole.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
In those moments, most kids only want one thing, the only thing that can soothe their fears, their parents. But for Collier, one of his parents was the monster lurking in the darkness, and he knew it almost as soon as he opened his eyes. After hearing those thuds, followed by a scream, Collier's first fear was that something had happened to his mother.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But then he started hearing footsteps walking towards his bedroom. And in that moment, his second fear was that something was about to happen to him.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I'm counting his footsteps that are going down the hallway. And I'm sleeping and I'm looking at my Batman clock that's on the wall. That's how I know what time it is. And I can see out of my peripheral vision because I always slept with my door open. And the feet stop in the doorway. And I recognize my father's shoes.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Noreen, or Nori as her friends called her, had a number of great qualities. She was kind, generous, smart, thoughtful. But before you even got to know any of these qualities, you would see that she was effortlessly beautiful. She had this light blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a great style that drew people's attention.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I'm just, and all I'm saying to myself is, like there's this voice from the universe screaming, don't look up. And I firmly believe that if I had looked up, I wouldn't be sitting here.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
As he laid in bed that night, Collier kept his eyes closed. His heart was thudding and his mind was racing. but he didn't dare move. And after what surely felt like an eternity, he finally heard the sounds of his dad walking away. But Collier believes that his father went to his room that night to see if he had heard anything.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And if he had, if Collier would have been awake when his dad walked by his bedroom, he believes with his whole heart that his father would have killed him. The fear that ran through Collier that night was unfathomable, but eventually, he fell into an uneasy sleep. The next morning was the very first day of 1990, the day that Collier's life was forever changed.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But in the light of day, he made a horrible discovery.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So the morning I rushed to her bedroom, I'm scrummaging through, because the bed was in a state of disarray. My mother always made her bed in the morning and I always made my bed. That's the first thing I do when I get up still. And I'm rummaging through the sheets and I'm looking for blood.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I come downstairs and my father is seated on the couch and he had a towel wrapped around his waist because he had just taken a shower. And I said, where is my mother? And he doesn't look at me, he's watching television. I said, where is my mother? And he looks up to me very coldly and calmly. He goes, well, mommy took a little vacation, Collier. And right then I knew.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And then he starts to go into this whole diatribe about how, you know, I started asking him what happened. And he said, oh, well, you, you. Your mother came down. I was sleeping on the couch. We got into an argument. She's hollering at me, Jack this, Jack that about Sherry, about money, about this, about the divorce, about me, all this stuff, right?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But Collier didn't believe a word of what his father was saying. After all, he never heard his mother screaming that night. He only heard his sister scream and then two loud thuds. So he asked his dad about those thuds. What was that? He asked. Jack claimed that Noreen got mad and threw her purse at him and the purse hit the wall. Then from there, he said that Noreen left the house.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But as Jack is explaining this to him, Collier knows that that isn't true, and what his dad does next confirms this even further.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It starts into this whole, well, you know, we're not going to call the police. We're not going to call the FBI. And when I said the FBI, I remember thinking, like, what is this, like, escalating? Like, this is weird. And by that time, my grandmother is there, and he's telling the whole story to her. And he goes and gets dressed, and he's then like, you know, we're not going to call the police.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I'm thinking to myself, as soon as you leave, like, I'm calling someone.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And on April 23rd, 1962, at just 17 years old, these very qualities would catch the eye of John F. Boyle Jr.,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The new year is supposed to represent a clean slate, new goals and resolutions, better habits, a fresh start. Many people spend some time reflecting on the year behind them and make plans on how they're going to make the next year even better. That was definitely the case for a man named Jack Boyle Jr. in 1989. That had been a difficult year for Jack for months,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After the police left, Collier didn't know how his dad was going to react. Was he going to be mad at him for telling people that his mom was missing? Was he going to hurt him? But surprisingly, Collier said that his dad was acting pretty passive. He even started saying things like, "'I wonder where mommy is. "'Where do you think she went?'
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Jack was hypothesizing on where Noreen could have traveled to, but Collier knew that his mom was not on vacation. And strangely enough, the day after his mom disappeared, his dad's mistress came over. Now, Sherry Campbell had never been by their house before, but on this day, she came over with a pot roast and ate dinner as if she was a part of the family now."
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Collier knew deep down that something wasn't right here. If his mom was actually on vacation and would be coming home soon like his father claimed, why would he be inviting Sherry over? So from here, Collier called his mother's friends yet again. This time, they informed him that they had filed a missing persons report, but Collier was adamant that his mother did not run off.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
otherwise known as jack jack would later say that on that beautiful spring day he and his friends had just arrived at a drive-in diner called the hot shop and all of a sudden he sees a car of girls pull up next to them jack and his friends were very interested in this group of pretty girls and they all rolled their windows down and started introducing themselves but jack had his eyes set on the beautiful blonde sitting in the back seat
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
My dad did something to her, he said. So the following day, another police officer came by their house.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
A police detective shows up at our door. His name is Lieutenant Detective David Messmore. And he charms his way in with my grandmother and I. And I'm like, yeah, come on in, come on in. And my grandmother is livid. And she's like, I'm going to call my son. He's a doctor. You need to stop harassing us. So she goes for the phone. I grab him and I say, look, I can't talk here.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's not safe, but I go back to school tomorrow. Give me your card. I'm gonna call you from school. And he's like, okay. I was like, you know, my mother would never leave me. My father's done something to her, but I can't talk here.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So at just 11 years old, Collier comes up with a plan to call David Messmore while he's at school. However, school doesn't start for a couple more days. So he'd have to wait. In the meantime, David Messmore kept showing up to the Boyle household to get answers.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He knew that there was definitely more to this story, but every time he came by, Jack's lawyer was there and they would always shoo him away saying that Jack was not speaking to law enforcement. But luckily for Collier, winter break came to an end. And as soon as he arrived at school that week, he marched right over to the principal's office and placed the call to David Messmore.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Upon getting the call, Messmore immediately made his way over to Collier school. And once there, Collier told him everything.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So the next day I go to back to school. I call Dave. I say, come down here. We meet. I lay out for him everything, everything. having to do with my parents' history, my father's proclivity for violence, everything about Sherry, like everything I can remember about my parents, everything that happened that night, my father, all this stuff, right?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I said, look, when I go home, while my grandfather's downstairs dealing with my sister or making dinner, I'm going to go upstairs and pull the bookshelves out of the wall where the crawl space is and start looking for my mother's body. And I'm going to look for her purse that I know she would never leave the house without. See if I can find that.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I start laying out this plan on how I'm going to investigate.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Collier was putting his life at risk. Every moment he could, he was searching his home for evidence. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for. At first, he looked for his mother's body, but then he started looking for any other evidence he could find. He went through Noreen's clothes looking for blood. He pulled out furniture and he searched every inch of their house.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He would later write a letter to his son Collier explaining this interaction. In it, Jack says, quote, When everyone was exchanging names, all I saw was her. I said to her, Hey, you in the back seat, what's your name? In true mommy fashion, she pulled the glasses down over the bridge of her nose, looked up over them at me and said, Noreen. "'What's yours?'
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Collier was doing everything in his power to help with the investigation, but Noreen wasn't there. She had been missing for days now and hadn't returned home like Jack said she would. And with every passing day, the likelihood of her coming home alive was growing thin. But no one else in Mansfield seemed to believe this. only Collier and Dave Messmore.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And sadly, Messmore's department wasn't very interested in looking into the case. In fact, the captain at the time allegedly wanted to close the case as quickly as they opened it, stating that there was no evidence of foul play. But Messmore remained steadfast, fighting to keep the case open. And together, he and Collier worked to get as much information as possible.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So every day I'm going to school talking to Dave Massmore and my father's coming home. And again, every night is this weird, like, you know, I wonder where mommy is. I wonder what mommy's having for dinner tonight and where she's staying. And I'm just like, this is delusional. My father's behavior starts going. He's this very, my father was, as I said, a very violent man, a very abusive man.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He starts going from being, you know, this, this machismo like asshole, like this,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
violent guy to being very sort of passive and it's very weird but he would come home and sometimes i noticed like strange bruises on his arm so i'd be like remembering okay gonna tell dave about that tomorrow he had these cuts all over his hands my father always had these really well manicured hands he had cuts all over his hands the next time i saw he he asked me to rub ben gay on his shoulders because he was sore he said he was moving boxes
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Around the middle of January, so I'm doing this amateur salute thing in my house at 11 years old. Around the middle of January, my dad says, I'm going to go pick up paperwork in my office. Do you want to come with me? I was like, absolutely, because I want to keep my eyes on him all the time. We stop at this gas station on the way back home, and he goes into the gas station. I'm like, okay.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I'm looking through the windshield watching him, and I just start rummaging through his truck, and I open up the center console. I find two photographs. One is of a house that I've never seen before. And the second one is of Sherry and her two kids sitting in front of fireplaces covered in plastic. And I'm like, okay, this is a new house. Clearly. I've never seen this before.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's a brand new house.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After finding these photographs, Collier goes to school and calls Dave Messmore to tell him... about his discovery. From there, David Messmore would do some digging and what he would find would blow the case wide open. As it turns out, Jack Boyle's mistress, Sherry Campbell, wasn't just his girlfriend. Sherry and Jack had a baby together.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
In fact, Sherry had just given birth to their full-term daughter less than two weeks after Noreen went missing. And that photograph that Collier found of Sherry and her kids sitting in a brand new house? Well, Jack had recently bought them that house. Soon enough, everything was starting to make sense. Jack Boyle had fallen in love with someone else. He started a family with someone else.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And he had clearly been planning to start a whole new life with her. But now the question was, did Noreen find out about this and run away? Or did Jack kill her to start this new life. As Dave Messmore is looking at all of this, he can't help but wonder if that new house holds the answers to Noreen Boyle's disappearance. So after a little digging, they find the house.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It was three hours away from Mansfield, Ohio in the town of Erie, Pennsylvania. Slowly but surely, investigators are uncovering more about Jack Boyle's double life. And based on what happens next, it's clear that Jack was becoming more and more paranoid. He knew that the walls were closing in.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After that time, "'we were inseparable for the rest of our lives.'" And that was true. After meeting that day at the drive-in diner, Jack and Noreen were inseparable, and they both came from similar backgrounds.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
What happened was, I was noticing over the weeks that my father was getting under more and more duress, and every single night, Every single night, Dave Messmore is coming to our house to try to talk to my dad. And his lawyer is there shutting him down. So this was like around the 20th or 21st of January, 1990.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
My father comes to me, and again, he seems like he's under duress because he's probably like, why do they keep coming at me? And like, why are they finding out information? As to me, he goes, you know, Collier, I know that it's been really hard on you losing mommy and mommy leaving us. It was always mommy's left us in such a state. Mommy left us here. Mommy left us. That's what I'm always saying.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He goes, I know mommy has left us all in such a state and it's really affected you. But I have a medical conference trip coming up in a couple of days. I have to go to Florida every year. We would go to Clearwater Beach, Florida for these medical conventions, but they're usually in the spring when kids are on spring break, not two or three weeks after Christmas, right?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I am forced to leave my dog. I'm forced to leave my house. And as I'm coming down the stairs, it's like a slow motion movie. There's Dave Messmore and my grandmother's screaming at him. He has a search warrant. There are cops all in my house, men and women in white lab coats. They've got all these,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
got this like all these detect like equipment they're looking for stuff they're looking for my mom like they're serving a search warrant and i'm just like what is like and i knew at that point i was like okay i mean i'd already known we have we have crossed the rubicon my mother is missing and most likely dead uh my father's done something with her um and we uh you know they take me out of the house and i'm just like okay my life will never be the same
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And Collier was right. His life would never be the same. Because of the emergency situation at hand, Collier was first placed in the home of his high school principal while CPS figured out his long-term placement. But his first night there was difficult. Collier said he laid in bed and just stared at the ceiling. wondering how his life had come to this.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Like we mentioned earlier, Collier also struggled with asthma. And that night, in a strange place, in a strange bed, in a horrific time of his life, he had the worst asthma attack ever. It was so bad, he had to be rushed to the ER for treatment.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
and i remember going into this hospital this was mansfield general hospital and there was an honor box which is like where they keep newspapers in and you it's called another box because you put money in it you pull the paper and you only take one that you pay for and whatever the whole lobby is filled with people.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I remember we're walking towards the honor box and my principal in my school, then ring about grabs me and sort of shifts me over this other direction. And they take me into this like little private consultation room. And one of our family friends, who's a cardiologist, his name is Dr. Bay. He he's, he is there.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He's got some shots and he gives me a breathing treatment and go through the whole thing. And I can really breathe my lungs open up and thank God. Right. So then they say to me, they say, Collier, Lieutenant Messmore found your mother, and it seems like this eternal pause, and she was dead.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, it's really, really difficult to articulate the cognitive dissonance that occurs when someone says this to you, because on one hand, you are relieved in a way because you, what you knew in your heart and what you were experiencing, like you weren't gaslighting yourself, you knew was true.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Unbeknownst to Collier at the time, as investigators were searching his home in Mansfield, another set of investigators were executing a search warrant at Jack's new house in Erie, Pennsylvania, the home he shared with Sherry Campbell. And there, Under the basement floor, investigators found the body of Noreen Marie Schmidt Boyle. She was dead at just 44 years old.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
An autopsy would reveal that she had blunt force trauma to her head, but her ultimate cause of death was asphyxiation. When investigators told Collier the horrific news, The first thing that came out of his mouth was the last thing you'd expect to hear from an 11-year-old. With tears in his eyes, he said, that bastard.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that his father had murdered his mother. It was something he knew from the very beginning. And soon after the discovery of Noreen's body, Jack Boyle Jr. was arrested for her murder.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And all I can remember is my mom, when my grandmother, her mother died, and she was very close to her father. And she said, you've got to be strong for pop-up. And I just remember walking in there, I was 11 years old. And I was like, you got to be strong for everybody. You got to be strong for all these people, Collier, because you're in the middle of like, this is, this is like, this is it.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And it's, you know, it's like, you know, your whole world is just never going to be the same. You just lost the most important person in your life, which you kind of knew was already the case. You now have no father. He's been arrested, you know, and, and all this stuff is happening. Like what's going to happen? Like. And this is like when the real shit starts to hit the fan.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
On June 1st, 1968, at 23 years old, Noreen and Jack would get married in what Jack described as the downstairs, quote, poor person's church in Penwyn, Pennsylvania. And from the outside looking in, they had an incredible life ahead of them. Jack was attending medical school on his way to becoming a doctor. And while he worked on that, Noreen supported them by working as a dental hygienist.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's like, you know, I go back that night to one of the principals of my school's house and Dave Messmore comes and visits me and he just explains to me like what happened and how they found her. And he said, remember the house? And I said, yeah. And he goes, that's where we found her. They found her buried underneath the basement floor.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And he asked me, he goes, have you ever seen any indoor-outdoor carpeting on your house? And I said, yeah, we had it sitting on our back porch for like three months. And he goes, yeah. And he said, have you ever seen a blue tarp? And I said, yeah, I was with my father when I bought it at Kmart. He goes, yeah, that's what my father wrapped her body in.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
To everyone's surprise, Jack Boyle's crimes began long before the murder of his wife Noreen. In fact, years earlier, another police department in Baltimore had been investigating him. As it turns out, on January 13th, 1987, Three years before Noreen was murdered, Jack's niece filed a complaint stating that he had sexually molested her and her younger sister.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The abuse spanned over a period of two years in the late 1970s, beginning when one of the girls was 11 and the other was just nine years old. During that time, Jack would get the girls alone and pretend he was giving them physicals, as doctors do. But in reality, he was using this opportunity to inappropriately touch them. Now, it would take about 10 years for the girls to come forward,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The allegations didn't come to light until 1986 when one of Jack's nieces attempted suicide. Afterwards, she would go through intensive therapy and it was there where she felt comfortable enough to tell her therapist about the sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of her uncle. Now from there, detectives in Baltimore investigated the claims for seven whole months.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But sadly, in the end, the girls didn't wanna testify against him. It was too traumatic for them, having to stand up against their uncle, the man who stole their innocence. So nothing ever came from this. Now Collier would later tell us that he had no idea any of this had happened, but he did notice a strange disconnect within his family at the time.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After all, these were his cousins on his mom's side, and randomly they just stopped coming around. Now, when these investigators in Baltimore heard that Jack Boyle had been arrested for murdering his wife, they actually called Dave Messmore and told him about the sexual assault allegations. They even said, quote, you get him for us.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
We have no doubt in our minds that he'd be capable of murdering his wife. We couldn't get him, so get him for us, end quote.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Here is Jack and Noreen's son Collier talking about his parents' life during this time.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So as you can see, Jack Boyle clearly lived a double life. In Mansfield, Ohio, he was this respected doctor with wealth and a beautiful family. But behind closed doors, he was a womanizer, a violent man who terrorized people, and he was allegedly molesting little girls.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Both of my parents were very intelligent people. They graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, which is an Ivy League school. They're both from poor families in Philadelphia. One of the things I found out when I was making the film is my mother supported my father. while he was in med school because she graduated with a degree from Penn in dental hydronistry.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now it's around this time when his wife Noreen started to feel very unhappy in her marriage, which is why in early 1989, she decided to adopt Elizabeth from Taiwan. But unbeknownst to Noreen, at the time of Elizabeth's adoption, Jack was already in another relationship, this time with 28-year-old Sherry Campbell. And sadly, just a few months after they adopted Elizabeth,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Sherry was pregnant with Jack's baby. And it's here where the prosecution believes that Jack started planning Noreen's murder. But how would they prove this? Well, at this point in the trial, it was time to bring forward the prosecution's star witness. And that was none other than Collier Landry Boyle, Jack and Noreen's then 12-year-old son.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
On the day that Collier was brought forward as a witness, everyone watching couldn't believe it. Up walks this cute little boy with braces on his teeth. He's wearing a navy shirt with a red collar, and he confidently takes a seat on the witness stand, just feet away from his father. Collier was more than ready to help get justice for his mom.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And the prosecution starts by asking him about the relationship he had with his parents.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
As you'll hear from the clips, Collier was a very brave and articulate little boy. Throughout his testimony, he surprisingly made a lot of people laugh. Most of the funny moments that Collier had on the stand were humorous because he was saying things that you would never expect to hear from a 12-year-old little boy. But that in itself is a tragedy.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Nothing makes you grow up more quickly than trauma and call your experience trauma that no child should ever be exposed to. But in this next part, the prosecutors ask him about his experiences with Sherry Campbell.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So she went off and was working and was making like $25 an hour in the 60s and 70s in Philadelphia. And that's pretty good money.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now Collier had no idea when he met Sherry Campbell that she was pregnant with his father's child. And unbeknownst to everyone, Jack had been fully planning to start a new life with her. The prosecution discovered that on November 11th, 1989, Both Jack and Sherry, who was almost seven months pregnant at the time, walked into a real estate office in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Jack introduced himself to the realtor, and Sherry introduced herself as his wife. And on that day, the couple was looking to find a home in the area. The realtor said that they were all smiles, clearly excited about their new life together. That day, they drove around the wealthy neighborhoods looking to find the perfect home for their growing family. Then finally...
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After looking at eight different houses, they found it. It was this huge house covered in snow. The front door was bright red and it had a lot of room and space for this new chapter of their lives. Now, when negotiating on the house, Jack offered to pay full price, but he demanded that the home be ready for him to move into on January 1st, 1990. And he was adamant about that date.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Noreen was a hard worker with a good head on her shoulders. She was also very supportive of her husband's career. So she was more than willing to support them while he worked on becoming a doctor. But medical school is not easy. It's a long and tiring journey. In fact, for the first nearly 10 years of their marriage, Jack was in school. He ended up graduating from UP in 1973
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
likely because that was also the date he planned on murdering his wife and he would need a place to hide the body so the following day jack and sherry signed a contract for a 299 000 lakefront home in the affluent neighborhood in mill creek township adjusted for inflation that's about 750 000 today but perhaps the most twisted part of this comes from how the two signed the contract
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Sherry actually signed the papers in Sherry Boyle. Now, Sherry would end up testifying at Jack's trial. And of course, she claimed that she had no idea Jack was married with a family until she was around six months pregnant. But that clearly wasn't true because Collier had met her earlier that summer and he told her that his mom had the same ring she was wearing.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
So she had to have known that Jack had a family. Plus, the Boyles were well known in town. Everyone in town knew that Dr. Boyle was married with kids. But on the stand, when asked why she continued to be with Jack after learning about his marriage, Sherry stated to the jury, quote, one lie doesn't mean you can't trust a man, end quote.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, many have wondered over the years, why even kill Noreen? She was already divorcing him. So why not just let her leave? Well, one thing to know about Jack Boyle is that he is a man that needs control. Divorces can be long and treacherous. You have to split up your assets and sometimes the process can take years. So killing Noreen meant that he could eliminate all of that extra stress.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And from there, He could move to a new city and start a whole new life without any baggage. So that's what he decided to do. And sadly, Noreen must have seen this coming because it's around this time when she started telling people that if anything ever happened to her, Jack was responsible. At the trial, Collier testified about that conversation he had with his mom.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Some of Noreen's friends also testified. It was very clear that Noreen was scared for her life and she had every right to be because a few days after Christmas of 1989, Jack Boyle would drive to Home Depot and rent out a jackhammer.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
with a bachelor's degree in biology. And four years after that, he finally graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine with his medical degree. Now from there, Jack would actually serve as a doctor in the Navy Reserve for two years. And then the couple moved to Dahlgren, Virginia, where Jack worked at the Naval Surface Weapons Center.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The details on what exactly happened that night are still a little unclear. But as we mentioned earlier, Jack and Noreen didn't sleep in the same bed together. But Collier said that his little sister Elizabeth always slept with his mom. At three years old, she would get scared at night. And to find comfort, she would walk over to her mother's room and crawl into bed with her.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's believed that late that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Jack Boyle crept over to his wife's bedroom holding a hammer. When he walked inside, both Noreen and Elizabeth were fast asleep. And it's here where he lifted up the hammer and slammed it down onto the back of Noreen's head two times. The thud of the hammer jolted Collier awake.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It also woke up Elizabeth, and after seeing what she saw, she let out a scream, a scream that Collier heard from several rooms down.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, Elizabeth was far too young to testify at Jack's trial, but after Noreen went missing, three-year-old Elizabeth actually told investigators, quote, daddy came in and hit mommy on the head and then wrapped her up like a snowman, end quote. So horrifically, it's believed that Elizabeth watched Noreen's murder.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Autopsy results would prove that Noreen did have blunt force trauma to the back of her head, but horrifically, Those blows didn't cause her death. After rendering her unconscious, Jack grabbed a plastic bag and wrapped it around Noreen's head until she passed away. From there, with the plastic bag still around her head, Jack wrapped Noreen's body in a tarp
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But the details of what happened next are unclear. One thing we know for sure is that Jack knew he had to get the body out of the house, but his house in Erie wasn't ready yet. So what did he do with her? Well, Collier told us that his dad rented out a cold storage unit around this time. So it's believed that after killing her that night, he took her body to that cold storage.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He then returned back home and started coming up with his story about how Noreen got up and left in the middle of the night.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Over the next week or so, Jack went to work tearing out the floors of his basement and the new home that he shared with Sherry Campbell. And he went through a lot of work to conceal his crime. After tearing up the basement with a jackhammer, he retrieved Noreen's body drove it over state lines into Erie, Pennsylvania, and then placed his wife within the basement floors.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But this was also a very monumental time in their lives because in 1978, Jack and Noreen gave birth to their son, Collier Landry Boyle. And for Noreen, he was her entire world. Jack would later say that he and Noreen had tried to conceive for many years with no luck. So when Collier was born, they were over the moon. Noreen was a wonderful mother. She loved Collier with her whole being.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He covered her in carpet that he had just bought from the store. Then from there, he poured concrete over her. Once that dried, Jack laid down some green astroturf, and he even built shelves over top to try and conceal any signs of his new renovations. It's a horrifying thought, the process he went through to start this new life with Sherry Campbell.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But clearly, their relationship was doomed from the start. In fact, right around the time that Jack was pouring concrete over Noreen's body, Sherry was giving birth to their daughter. They now had a newborn baby. It was a new year and a new home. But the foundation of that home had cracks. both figuratively and literally. And it was only a matter of time until everything came crashing down.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, of course, Sherry Campbell claimed that she had no idea Noreen Boyle was buried in the basement of their new home and she would never face any criminal charges in this case. But many people over the years have had their questions on what exactly Sherry knew.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Jack's defense was really grasping at straws. They even tried dragging Noreen's name through the mud, claiming that she had been having affairs with men in law enforcement and that they actually killed her and framed Jack Boyle. They also said that the steps Jack took before the murder, like buying that tarp and jackhammer, were so stupid that he couldn't have done this.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The defense argued, quote, we hear from the prosecution about the prior calculation and design, the cold calculated planning, the scheme to hide and cover up and kill and bury. John Boyle walks in the morning of January 4th, 11 o'clock AM.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
orders some carpet, puts it in his name, pays for it with a check imprinted with his name and address on it, signs his name to the check, and then comes back to pick it up at 7 o'clock. Does that ring of a scheme? A cool and calculated plan?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And for the first five years of Collier's life, his memories are all with his mom growing up in Virginia. But soon enough, their family was given a great opportunity. Jack was offered a position at a hospital in Mansfield, Ohio. So from there, their family of three made the move. However, the people of Mansfield had no idea that this picture-perfect family would one day change their town forever.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
end quote now to everyone's surprise jack boyle actually took the stand at his trial where he continued to proclaim his innocence but if you know anything about trials you know that this usually doesn't work out in their favor in the closing statements prosecutor james mayer summed up the situation perfectly saying quote so what i'm telling you is Dr. Boyle, the evidence showed this.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He was a healer by day and a killer by night. And luckily, the jury seemed to agree because after five hours of deliberation, they found Jack Boyle Jr. guilty of second degree murder. And from there, he was sentenced to life in prison. This trial was huge for a number of different reasons. It's not often that a doctor murders his wife to start a new life with his mistress.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But another huge part of this trial that stuck out to America was the fact that Noreen and Jack's 12-year-old son testified against his father. Collier's face was plastered all over America that year. He was known as the little boy who helped get justice for his mom. When we interviewed Collier, I asked him, what was it like testifying against your dad? Was it intimidating?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I kept staring at him and he would not look at me the whole time. I kept looking at the prosecutor and I would look over at him and he wouldn't look back at me.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He's writing his notes down.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He would look up, but he wouldn't look at me. And I can remember I had to leave when I got off the witness stand and walk right past him. And I'm just like looking at him and he wouldn't look up.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He had been looking at his life in 1989 and picturing how different things could be for him in 1990. But the only thing standing in the way of this new glamorous life was Noreen Boyle, Jack's wife. So this is the story of how Noreen Boyle suddenly vanished in the early morning hours of January 1st, 1990.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He also said that the prosecution told him he didn't have to testify if he didn't want to. But Collier was more than ready.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I was very much ready. You know, again, they said, you don't have to testify. I said, that's over my dead body. Like, I was not... You know, this is the thing, and I always tell this, like, when I talk to young people, or... You know, you have these moments in life, right, where, you know, all the chips are down. Like, you just push all your chips into the middle of the table.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
You're like, I'm all in. You know, I knew that... If I didn't testify and my father was acquitted, I would go back to living with him. My life would be a living hell. He would never be like, yeah, I remember when he tried to get me convicted for murdering your mom. Or I might end up in a ditch somewhere, mysteriously, or drowning mysteriously.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I also would know, I didn't give it everything I had. You know what I mean? I was not going to let that happen. I had enough foresight, fortunately, at that age, that I knew that I would be sitting here talking to a stranger in Houston, Texas, telling the story because I knew that I would want to be able to say I did everything I could. You know what I mean?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Even if he was acquitted, like everything I could to make sure that I got justice for my mother, I left it all on the table. And I mean, it's absolutely terrifying. This is the monster in my life who has taken the person who I love the most and he has turned my whole world upside down. But I was like, you're not going to get away with this over my dead body. You're going to get away with this.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
The thing that was probably the worst is that, you know, I thought, okay, my family would step up, right? And my father's side of the family didn't want anything to do with me because they wanted me to recant my testimony. They wanted me to say that I lied about that. I made everything up, that I didn't hear the noises in the middle of the night, that I didn't know any of this went on.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And my mother's side of the family said to me, my aunt Carol, my mother's sister said to me, we will not take you in because you look like your father. They lived in Baltimore, Maryland. And I was like, wow, so I am really alone. So I went into the foster care system.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Both Collier and his three-year-old sister Elizabeth were put into the foster care system. Given her young age, Elizabeth was quickly adopted by another family, but they only wanted her, not Collier. And sadly, after she was adopted, she and Collier lost contact with each other. So Collier lost a lot that year. His mother, father, sister, childhood dog, his home, his security, everything.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now Collier really wanted to be adopted by Dave Messmore and his wife, and they wanted to take him in. But since Dave Messmore was the lead investigator in Noreen's murder, it was a conflict of interest, so the judge wouldn't allow it. In Collier's documentary, A Murder in Mansfield, he read a journal entry from this time. And it had me in tears.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It read, quote, my counselor told me that she believes in happy endings. I don't. But Collier said that eventually things began to look up for him. Following his father's conviction, he stayed in Mansfield and he was adopted by the Ziegler family who gave him a great life.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
There's part of me that didn't want to believe for a while that my father did it, even though I think I went through a period in my teenage years and, you know, like, could my father be innocent? Did I really hear what it was? Did I really do that? Okay, no, that really happened. Because you don't, ultimately, you don't want to believe that. Like, that's the worst thing imaginable.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Your father murders your mother. That's horrific. You know, these are your parents and this is what you, you, like, you don't want to believe that that's the case. So... You know, I had to really get, I really had to come to terms with that and reconcile with that.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But I decided at a very young age, I was, you know, you know, I was in college and I was like, I remember, not to sound hooey-dooey about it, my mom came to me in a dream and said, you need to forgive your father. Or maybe I was still in high school, actually.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
like you need to forgive your father and move on because it's only going to affect you it's not going to affect him you know and so i reached out to him when i you know you know we would trade letters back and forth um but you know my my adoptive parents would read the letters and they would explain to me like this is manipulation this is gaslight like this is he's manipulating you to feel guilty for him to feel bad about testifying or whatever you know and he's gonna fight this injustice and it's all it's all you know
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's sad, too, because that's my father. Like, that's my father. Like, that's what he created. That's his legacy.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
At 14 years old, Collier even wrote his dad a letter that read, "...I know you're never going to tell me why you killed mommy. I know you'll never tell me why you cheated on her so much. I don't think our friends and family will ever forgive you for killing my mommy." "'molesting my two cousins, lying, "'and everything else I might've missed.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
"'But I want you to know that if you pass on soon, "'I forgive you. "'I still love you, Dad. "'Never forget that. "'I really hope you face up to what you've done "'and realize that it is wrong. "'Much love, Collier.'" The maturity it takes to write something like that is admirable.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And sadly, even after this, Jack Boyle not only continued to maintain his innocence, but he also wrote some horrible letters back to his son, calling him evil and a brat for saying those things.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, once again, I implore everyone to go watch the documentary, A Murder in Mansfield, because Collier reads some of the letters he and his dad wrote back and forth to each other, and you will be completely shocked at the things Jack Boyle would say to his son. But eventually, Collier knew that he had to move on.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He didn't want to be defined by this crime that had already taken up so much of his life.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Things always work out the way they should anyways. And I stayed in the community where all of this happened and I became very determined to not let this define me, to not be that person, to not let, you know, it's just hard because you live under a stigma. You live under, you know, people just like, you know, you walk places and it's, whispers, stares everywhere. And that really affected me.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
That affected my adoptive parents. That affected the family, friends everywhere. Because everybody knows me. I was on television. You know, it became this whole, you know, thing. And it was just, but I was like, I'm going to, I want to get out of here. I want to move to a place where nobody knows who I am. I ended up moving to Los Angeles, you know,
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
got into the entertainment industry worked as a model and then did music stuff and then moved to behind the camera because i was like i need to tell this story and that's where i ended up and i share my story on shows like this to hopefully give people hope who have experienced massive trauma or violent crime you know to know that like you can make it like you can lead a good life i mean look i'm far from perfect i have many flaws
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But, you know, I wake up every day with hope in my heart, with gratitude for where I'm at and just put one foot in front of the other and lead the best life that I can. And that's all a testament to my mother who really instilled all this into me in such a young age.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Collier never once believed his dad's new story, but ever since 1990, people all over America remembered him as the boy who testified at his father's murder trial. Over the years, many people also wondered whatever happened to him. With the cards that Collier had been dealt, it would have been expected that he went on to live a very difficult life. But luckily, that wasn't the case.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
After his mother's murder and father's incarceration, Collier really made something of himself. And a few years back, he decided that he wanted to share his story with the world. So that's when he came up with the idea to create the documentary, A Murder in Mansfield. And he knew that in it, he wanted to confront his father once and for all.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But I wanted to really sit down with him and ask him, why did you do this? Why did you murder my mother? Because there was no reason to, you know, he had a mistress, he had a baby on the way, he had a new house, he had a career, he was starting to make lots of money as a physician, you know, there's no reason. There's no reason to do this.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
That was the thing that I was always, that sort of drove me to make the film, to talk about these experiences, to share, and to be vulnerable with what my story is so others can learn from it, right? And heal from it.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now, a big part of this documentary is Collier confronting his father. And we will leave the details of their interaction for you to watch for yourself. But as you can imagine, Jack Boyle didn't give Collier the answers he was looking for. In our interview we did with Collier, I told him that his documentary was truly one of the most vulnerable things I had ever seen.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And something that stuck out to me was that, despite everything his father had put him through, Collier still had this very human experience that we all have. where we want to be loved and accepted by our parents.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And at the end of the documentary, when Jack Boyle is still refusing to admit wrongdoing, Collier still shows his father love, which just shows the kind of person that Collier Landry truly is.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
remember I was interviewing with the New York times and he, the guy watched the film and he goes, you know, I don't know if it was New York time. I can't remember where it was, but he goes, you know, he's like, there's, there's three seconds of the film that tell me everything I need to know about who you are as a person and who Collier Landry is. And I was like, what?
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
He goes, you just sit down and you talk to your father for probably an hour and he just tells you all these lies and bullshit. And he doesn't give you the answer that you, that you want to hear or that you're expecting or that you see, you could just move on with your life and you get up. And you hug him and you tell him, I love you, Pop.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And when you said, I love you, Pop, that's all I need to know about you.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now with Jack working as a doctor, he was bringing in more money than they ever had. He and Noreen were able to purchase a beautiful home in town. They had a vacation condo on Lake Erie, two nice BMWs, and they could afford all of the luxury clothes and jewelry that money could buy. They were a very privileged family, which was a stark difference from Jack and Noreen's upbringings.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
To this day, Collier Landry has never got what people call closure. He knows that his father will never fully admit what happened in the early morning hours of January 1st, 1990. He's come to terms with that. So now, his focus is to turn his experience into good. And he hopes that along the way, he can help others who have gone through trauma.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I think for me, and the biggest thing that I want people to take away from my story, is that you can go through something like this, like unspeakable trauma and pain, and
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And you, you know, you come out the other side and you know, you're going to come out the other side, you're going to bumps and bruises and some broken bones maybe, but you're going to make it and you can really, you don't have to let it destroy you. You can make something positive out of your life.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
You can do things and you can choose to look at the world in a way that the glass is always half full. Like I'm a perpetual optimist. Anyone that knows me will tell you that, you know, There is a lot of really, there's a lot of darkness in humanity, but there's also a lot of light. There's a lot of beauty. Experience the beauty. Focus on it.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
You can get that on my YouTube channel. You can get that on my store, on my website. You can also watch it on Amazon Prime or wherever, but you can get it from me. It always helps to support the show. You can find me on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. Everything is at Collier Landry. I have a YouTube channel. I'm at 57,000 subs right now and climbing.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I talk about things like true crime, mental health, society, and popular culture. I'm doing a lot more with mental health and trauma. My podcast was originally called, like I said, Moving Past Murder, Moving Past Trauma. Now it's just the Call Your Landry Show just for ease. I do lives on YouTube, but I also do regular content as well.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I have a show that came out probably by the time these guys here came out on Oxygen called A Plan to Kill. The episode was Noreen Boyle. It came out on December 15th. And I have a new podcast I'm working on with Sony and Apple, which will
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
which will play out in march which really does a deep dive into the entire story over six episodes it's called me and dave against the world which is dave messmore the investigator and how yeah we solved my mother's murder and that's what it's about that whole backstory so
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But even so, Collier said that his mother was one of the most generous people he had ever met. Doreen wanted Collier to know that even when you have money and you're able to afford all these things, you have to give to others. Here is a memory he has of his mom growing up.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
This is from my lens as an 11-year-old child, you know, up until age 11. Is that my mother... was a kind generous beautiful human being who who did her best to make everyone feel welcome in her presence had a smile that would light up a room and was a genuinely kind kind and generous person with her time with her knowledge with any financial benefits she might have she was just one of those people
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I remember, you know, the holidays and, you know, are coming up and I can remember every year for Christmas, you know, there's like Toys for Tots, right? And my mother would make me go downstairs to my toy box and I would have to get out half my toys to donate. And it wasn't just like the ones, because she knew which ones I played with too.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
I had to pick some of the ones that I played with that were really special to me because she wanted me to, give something up to feel that so i know what it's like to give something because other children were not as fortunate as i was and that was something she wanted me to learn and to really understand is realize how fortunate you are and the gift that you can give people
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Noreen was working hard to make sure her son grew up with the values that she had. But Collier's father, Jack, wasn't as virtuous. Not only was he a womanizer, but he was also a compulsive liar.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
My father would just make up stories about everything I was telling on the podcast. Like I remember we went to this, we had, we had gone to this country club up on Lake Erie on Catawba Island. And my father was telling this story with people that we were at dinner with of how he was shot down in Vietnam over the South China Sea. He was a naval fighter pilot flying an F-4 Phantom.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
shot down over the South China Sea. His plane tails. It doesn't tailspin, but it like a like a turntables and crashes into the ocean. He couldn't open the ejection hatch. He cuts his way out of the
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
It's also a story about how their 11-year-old son Collier would help solve his mother's murder. I'm Courtney Browen.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
aircraft with a knife, his trusty Bowie knife, government issued, you know, naval issued, and swims two miles to shore, lives on slugs and bark for two days and, you know, the foliage there, and then is rescued. as a war hero. I mean, like some of these stories were so crazy.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
And I remember, you know, I remember hearing it as a kid, but I can remember, you know, reconnecting with people or people coming out of the woodwork when I made the film or just in my life in general saying, yeah, I remember this. And I just was like, what? Like this guy is completely full of shit. Like, like I, like this is the most fantastical story I've ever heard.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
When we moved to Mansell, there were a lot of backstories that were created about their lives that didn't exist. And I think they were maybe really almost embarrassed of their humble beginnings or their poor backgrounds, which they shouldn't have been at all. They should have worn it as a badge of honor, in my opinion. But, you know, it was a different time then.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
But as a little boy, Collier would hear these stories of his dad being this war hero, a naval fighter pilot, And he believed him. After all, parents aren't supposed to lie. Collier also saw what a great doctor his father was and how much his patients loved him. But on the other hand, Collier also saw a very different side of his father, a side that no one else in Mansfield was able to see.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
What I saw as a child was, look, my father was abusive. He was apoplectic. He was a rageaholic. He abused physically, mentally, verbally, my mother and I for years and years and years and years.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Now Collier would go on to create a documentary about his family's story called A Murder in Mansfield. And it is truly one of the best true crime documentaries I have ever seen. So we will be tagging it below in the show notes. Everyone, please go and watch it. I promise it is so, so good. But in it, Collier really lays out just how horrible his father's abuse was.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
Jack was known to easily fly off the handle over minor inconveniences and would often bear the brunt of his wrath. At times, Jack would call his son a pussy, fat, stupid, a sissy, or even the F slur. Collier has one memory of his dad throwing their family dog, Gowdy, across the room. Bouts of violence were a common occurrence in their household.
Murder In America
EP. 183: OHIO - The 11-Year-Old Who Helped Solve His Mom's Murder
During another instance, Jack became enraged because their home computer speakers had stopped working and he took that anger out on Collier. Here is Collier at just 11 years old talking about this experience.