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To get this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, please visit patreon.com/forensictales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. Back in 1997, Barry Van Treese was a beloved resident of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma.
He owned a popular hotel where he gave people jobs, a place to stay, and every guest was greeted with a smile. Barry didn't have one single enemy. Or did he? The morning of January 7th, 1997, Barry Vantrese was found dead in one of his own hotel rooms. The man with no enemies was beaten to death with a baseball bat.
This is Forensic Tales, episode number 145, The Richard Glossop Story. ♪♪ ♪♪
Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola. Forensic Tales is a weekly true crime podcast covering real, spine-tingling stories with a forensic science twist. Some cases have been solved with forensic science, while others have turned cold. Every remarkable story sends us a chilling reminder that not all stories have happy endings.
As a one-woman show, your support helps me find new exciting cases, conduct in-depth, fact-based research, produce and edit this weekly show. As a thank you for supporting the show, you'll get early ad-free access to weekly episodes, shout-outs and episodes, priority on case suggestions, and access to weekly bonus episodes.
To support Forensic Tales, please visit patreon.com slash Forensic Tales or simply click the link in the show notes. You can also support the show by leaving a positive rating with a review. Now, let's get to this week's episode. In 1997, 54-year-old Barry Van Treese was a beloved resident of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma City is the state's capital and is known for its cowboy culture and is a popular tourist destination. Those who knew Barry Van Treese described him as a down-to-earth guy who always had a smile on his face. He was a loving father of five young children and a devout husband. Barry was known throughout Oklahoma City because he owned a local motel, the Best Budget Inn.
Throughout the years that Barry owned the motel, it brought in good money, and the money he earned running it provided him and his family with a comfortable living. But in 1997, the same motel that earned a nice living cost Barry his life. On the morning of January 7, 1997, Oklahoma City Police responded to a call from an employee at the Best Budget Inn.
The caller told the police that an older male victim was found unresponsive inside room 102. Police arrived at the motel a few minutes later. They found the 54-year-old father and husband, Barry Van Treese, unresponsive and lying on the carpet. Within moments of the Oklahoma police arriving at the motel, paramedics also arrived. But they were too late. Barry was dead.
The first investigators on the scene noticed that Barry had a large, bloody wound on the top of his head. Next, the police found a bloody baseball bat besides Barry's body inside the motel room. An autopsy later revealed that he died of blunt force trauma and his head injuries were consistent with wounds inflicted by a baseball bat.
Barry often stayed the night at the motel on the nights he worked. It was easier for him to stay in a room instead of driving home every night. On the night he was murdered, he spent the night in room 102. This detail suggested to investigators that Barry might have known his attacker. The only way someone could have gotten inside the room where Barry was staying was if Barry let him in, or if the attacker already had access to the room.
News about Barry's murder spread quickly throughout Oklahoma City. People were shocked that someone like Barry could be ended up murdered. He was well-liked. He was a husband and a father to five children. He didn't seem to have any enemies. So when it came time for the Oklahoma Police Department to consider possible suspects, they couldn't think of anyone with a motive.
To generate possible leads, the Oklahoma police searched for any potential witnesses. They spoke with everyone who stayed at the Best Budget Inn the night of Barry's murder. But no one claimed to have heard or seen anything out of the ordinary, and no one reported seeing anyone suspicious hanging around the property that night. So detectives also canvassed the local area around the motel, but that search also turned up empty.
The police turned to the motel's employees for help. Maybe they knew something about who might want Barry dead. Enter Richard Glossop. 32-year-old Richard Eugene Glossop worked as the manager at the Best Budget Inn. As the manager, he lived in a room at the motel with his girlfriend.
For many years, the Best Budget Inn was known around Oklahoma City as a hangout spot for drug users and prostitutes. It had become known for its drug deals and as a good place for sex workers to bring their clients to. But Barry Van Treese didn't want that for his motel. He wanted to clean up the drugs and prostitution, and that's when he hired Richard Glossop.
When Richard took over as the motel's manager, the drugs started to vanish and the revolving door of prostitution slowed. Instead of only being known for drugs and prostitution, the motel became known for its safe and clean rooms. Richard gave the motel a facelift. He repainted every room on the property and arranged to replace the furniture.
The best budget inn looked almost like an entirely new property. Oklahoma police detectives sat down with Richard and asked him if he knew of anyone who might have wanted his boss dead. And the first person he mentioned was Justin Sneed. 19-year-old Justin Sneed worked at the motel as a maintenance worker and janitor.
Justin also received room and board at the motel in exchange for his work. During this first interview with the police, Richard told investigators that Justin had come to his room early that morning and said to him that he killed Barry. But according to Richard, he thought Justin was joking. He didn't take him seriously enough until he found out that Barry was in fact dead.
Richard also told the investigators that Justin was a known heavy methamphetamine user and had been recently caught stealing money from people staying at the motel. As a janitor, Justin Sneed had keys to all of the rooms. That could explain how someone got inside room 102 where Barry slept that night.
The police followed Richard's advice, and one week later, they brought Justin Sneed down to the police station for questioning. Before sitting down with Justin, investigators already knew about his checkered past. Not only was Justin Sneed a known meth user, but he also had a lengthy criminal record that included violent offenses. He was no stranger to the police in Oklahoma City.
At first, Justin was quiet and didn't want to seem to speak with the police. He was cooperative on one hand, but he wasn't going to go out of his way to provide information. It was only yes or no answers. So the police switched their interrogation tactics. The detectives told Justin that several people came forward saying that they thought he was involved in Barry's murder.
They said a handful of the witnesses even saw him leaving room 102 that night. This tactic seemed to be all the police needed because only minutes later, Justin Sneed confessed. He confessed to murdering Barry and beating him to death with a baseball bat. But that's not all Justin Sneed confessed to. He also told investigators he didn't commit this murder on his own.
According to Justin, Richard Glossop, the motel's manager, asked him to do it. Justin told investigators that he and Richard were good friends. Justin was the maintenance worker and Richard was the manager. Although Richard was in his early 30s and Justin was just a teenager, Justin looked up to Richard. While working together at the motel, they developed a close relationship.
Justin even considered Richard to be like an older brother to him. According to Justin, it was Richard's idea to murder Barry. He told the police that Richard had woken him up early on January 7th at the motel. Justin said Richard promised to give him $10,000 and a job managing another motel owned by Barry if he killed him.
Richard told Justin that getting $10,000 from Barry would be easy because the motel mainly operated in cash, and Barry was known to keep a lot of money inside both of his room and his car. Justin agreed to do it because he needed two things. He needed the money, and he needed the job.
After he agreed to do it, Justin grabbed a baseball bat and broke into Barry's room, room 102. Using the bat, he hit Barry 10 to 15 times until he died. In the process, the room's window accidentally broke. After Barry was killed, Justin said he returned to Richard's room and told him the job was done.
According to Justin, Richard said the money was inside Barry's car underneath the front seat. So the two of them went to Barry's car and drove it across the street to a credit union. Once they got across the street, they opened an envelope of money from underneath the front seat and split the money. But it wasn't $10,000 like Richard promised. Instead, they only got $4,000.
Justin said they abandoned Barry's car at the credit union and walked back to the motel. When they got there, they made up a story for the housekeepers to prevent them from entering room 102 and seeing Barry's body. Justin and Richard told them that two drunk guys were staying in the room and that they should stay away. Meanwhile, the two of them returned back to room 102 to fix the broken window.
According to Justin, they intended to return and get rid of Barry's body, but they didn't have time. The police had already been involved after the credit union called the motel to report that Barry's car was abandoned there. Following the interview, the Oklahoma City police arrested Justin Sneed, and a few hours later, they arrested Richard Glossop.
When the police arrested Richard, he had $1,800 in cash on him. This amount was roughly half the amount of money Justin told the police they found inside of Barry's car. Despite no physical and no forensic evidence linking either Justin Sneed or Richard Glossop to the murder, they were both arrested based on Justin's confession.
Initially, Richard was only charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, but the charges were eventually upgraded to capital murder. Although Justin was the one swinging the baseball bat, based on Justin's confession, Richard Glossop was the mastermind behind the murder. So he should be charged with capital murder even if he wasn't the one doing the murder.
Following his arrest, Richard was adamant about his innocence. He consistently denied ever telling Justin to kill Barry. The only thing Richard ever admitted to was knowing about the murder after it happened. In one of his interviews with the police, Richard admitted that Justin had told him about the murder after it happened.
But the police and prosecutors considered Richard a liar. They said his story changed about the last time he saw his boss, Barry. And witnesses at the motel said they saw Richard and Justin fixing the broken window in room 102 that morning. So although there was no forensic evidence, no blood, DNA, or fingerprints, they felt they had enough for a conviction.
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In July 1998, Richard Glossop stood trial for capital murder. If found guilty, he was facing the death penalty. The biggest piece of evidence against Richard wasn't any physical or forensic evidence. It was Justin's need. Part of Justin's plea agreement to avoid the death penalty included him testifying against Richard at his trial. And that's exactly what he did.
Justin took the stand and testified before the jury that Richard was in fact the mastermind behind everything. The prosecution painted the picture that Justin Sneed was a young and vulnerable young man who was manipulated by Richard into committing murder.
At trial, prosecutors offered a motive for the murder. Besides the money the men planned to steal from Barry, prosecutors told the jury that right before the murder, Barry intended to fire Richard from his job as the manager. According to prosecutors, two years after Barry hired Richard, who was in charge of payroll,
Barry noticed that the financial books were off. Barry suspected that Richard had stolen around $6,000 from the motel. So days before his murder, Barry planned on firing Richard.
Prosecutors argued that Richard knew that Barry was planning to fire him, and before he could, he enlisted his friend Justin Sneed to kill him. And once Barry was dead, the men would rob him of whatever cash he had on him and split the money.
Prosecutors reminded the jury that when the police arrested Richard, he had $1,800 in cash on him. This amount just so happened to be almost half the money that Justin Sneed said they took from Barry's car that night. After only a few hours of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict on July 31, 1998.
They found Richard guilty of capital murder and he was sentenced to the death penalty. In their decision, they found that the murder was especially heinous and cruel. In addition, Richard Glossop posed a continuing threat to society. Despite no forensic evidence linking him to the murder, Justin's confession was all they needed to sentence Richard to death.
Throughout the trial and subsequent conviction, Richard Glossett maintained his innocence, and immediately after he was sentenced to death, he filed an appeal. His first appeal was filed on February 1, 1999. In his appeal, Richard and his defense attorneys argued 12 points that they believed warranted a retrial.
One of them was that Richard received ineffective assistance from his counsel at trial. In March 2001, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals heard the case, and in a unanimous decision, they ruled there was enough compelling evidence to throw out Richard's conviction based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
They also noted that the prosecution's case against Richard was, quote, extremely weak. Following the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruling, Richard was given a new criminal trial in 2004. But the result of the second trial was no different than the first. In August of 2004, Richard was once again found guilty and once again sentenced to die.
For the next several years, Richard maintained his innocence and fought to have his death sentence overturned. Richard's defense team argued that Justin Sneed was a heavy meth user at the time of Barry's murder and routinely stole money from people staying at the hotel.
They also argued that the prosecution's case relied solely on a confessed killer's testimony, and there was no physical or forensic evidence tying Richard to anything. But all of their attempts at an appeal were unsuccessful. In April 2007, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his death sentence three years after his second conviction.
Richard's first execution date was scheduled for October 2014, but the execution was delayed since the state of Oklahoma didn't have the proper drugs needed for lethal injection, so the execution was rescheduled for 2015.
But in 2015, it was discovered that the Oklahoma City Police had destroyed a box containing critical pieces of evidence related to the case. This critical box was never provided to Richard's defense attorneys at either of his trials or at any of his appeals.
This box contained several items, including a shower curtain Justin Sneed claimed Richard helped hang over the broken window of room 102, as well as Barry's wallet. The box also held all of the motel's business records. Barry's motel was almost entirely operated from cash.
Barry was known to stash large amounts of cash inside his car, and he avoided using bank accounts whenever possible. According to Barry's ex-wife, she and Barry believed that Richard was stealing money from them. But when the police asked for records to prove this claim, Barry's ex-wife claimed the paper records had been lost in a flood.
Therefore, according to Richard's defense, the state had no real proof that Richard was stealing from Barry and therefore no real motive for wanting him dead. Throughout 2015, Richard came close enough to execution that he was fed his last meal three separate times.
Each time, his last meal consisted of four things. Fish and chips, a Wendy's Baconator, a strawberry shake, and pizza. Pizza Hut once and Domino's twice. Each time Richard was about to be executed, he was granted a stay of execution just hours before he was scheduled to die.
In 2015, Richard Glossop and a handful of other death row inmates made a petition in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to have a permanent stay on their executions. Richard Glossop and his 19 co-petitioners argued to the Supreme Court that the drug used to sedate them at execution, midazolam, was ineffective.
midazolam was supposed to be used so that the person doesn't feel any pain when the other two lethal drugs are administered. Richard and his co-petitioners argued that because the drug is ineffective at blocking the pain, this type of lethal injection violates their Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment.
In 2015, when Richard and 19 other death row inmates filed this petition, Oklahoma was experiencing a lot of controversy surrounding the use of lethal injection for the state's executions. On April 29, 2014, the state of Oklahoma executed Clayton Lockett using a three-drug lethal injection procedure.
But the execution didn't go as planned. Lockett woke up after the drugs were supposed to sedate him and render him unconscious. Another round of drugs had to be administered and he was pronounced dead 40 minutes later. It took him 40 minutes to die.
So following this incident, the state of Oklahoma suspended all of its executions until this incident involving Clayton Lockett could be investigated and so that a decision could be made about the drugs used.
Less than six months later, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, said that the state's lethal injection procedures did not violate their Eighth Amendment rights. And the drugs weren't considered cruel and unusual punishment like Richard and his co-petitioners claimed.
Despite the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, the Supreme Court ruled that Oklahoma could in fact resume its executions with the current drugs used. The Constitution, the Supreme Court said, does not require the avoidance of all risk of pain, end quote.
The Supreme Court's ruling cleared the way for another attempt at executing Richard. On September 30, 2015, 15 minutes before Richard was scheduled to die, he received an unexpected stay of execution. After his stay of execution by the state's governor in September of 2015, Richard
Richard's story gained even more attention after a 2017 TV series was released. In 2017, Killing Richard Glossop, a four-part TV series about his story, premiered on Investigation Discovery. After the show's release, many people who had never heard of Richard's story began supporting him.
Richard also gained several high-profile supporters who believed in his innocence. Some of these supporters included actors Mary Ruffalo, Peter Sarsgaard, and Susan Sarandon. Richard Branson also publicly expressed his support of Richard and have publicly spoken out about his proclaimed innocence.
But besides celebrities and actors, Richard also has the support of many Republican and Democrat government officials in Oklahoma. Some of them include Oklahoma State Representatives Republican Gary Mize, Democrat Mickey Dolenz, Democrat Denise Brewer, and Republican Jeff Boatman.
Some of the Oklahoma senators include Shane Jett, Nathan Dahm, Blake Stevens, David Bullard, Rob Stanbridge, and Warren Hamilton. But not even high-profile supporters have spared Richard from the possibility of execution.
On July 1st, 2022, Richard was one of 25 death row inmates scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma. But when July 1st came around, the execution was once again stalled, and it was rescheduled for two months later on September 22nd, 2022.
But before September 2022, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stint granted Richard a 60-day stay of execution on August 22, 2022. This stay marked the fourth time his execution has been postponed.
As of the time of this episode's recording, Richard Glossop's execution is scheduled for December 8th, 2022. Until then, Richard is currently sitting on death row at an Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAllister, Oklahoma. He spends 23 hours a day inside of his windowless prison cell awaiting execution.
His friend, former friend Justin Sneed, is currently serving his life sentence in a medium security prison in Oklahoma. Richard's team of attorneys are working on getting another stay of execution.
The latest information on Richard's case came on September 23, 2022, when his attorneys requested a new hearing alleging that prosecutors had failed to disclose key evidence that could have resulted in a different outcome at his retrial or in his petition for a new one.
Richard's attorneys allege that the state's star witness, Justin Sneed, confirmed in an interview this past summer that he has had multiple discussions with family members about recanting his original testimony.
The attorneys also allege that the prosecution's case file included documentation describing how the state provided Justin Sneed information so he could, quote, conform his testimony to match his evidence with other witnesses, end quote.
According to information made available at SaveRichardGlossop.com, a website created by his attorneys and supporters, 29 new experts and witnesses have come forward, signed affidavits, and are ready to testify in support of Richard's innocence.
According to this website, there are multiple independent witnesses who were incarcerated with Justin Sneed who heard him say that the murder was a robbery gone wrong and that Richard had nothing to do with it. According to at least one witness identified by this website,
Justin Sneed bragged about framing Richard for the murder, and a witness who grew up with Justin said he had a history of heavy drug use and was known to be violent. According to SaveRichardGlossop.com, as well as his attorneys, all this evidence indicates that Richard Glossop is innocent.
As much support as Richard Glossop has for his innocence, many people still believe he was the mastermind behind Barry Van Treese's murder in 1997. Although all of the forensic evidence found at the crime scene belong to Justin, those who believe Richard is guilty point to several key pieces of evidence. 1.
The allegation that Richard was stealing money from the motel and he was just days away from being fired as the manager. Number two. He told inconsistent stories to the police after the murder, like when was the last time he saw Barry alive. Number three.
He admitted to the police that Justin told him he killed Barry after it happened, but he never reported it to the police. Number four, the $1,800 in cash found in Richard's pocket when he was arrested. And finally, number five, the key piece to the state's case against Richard, the confession.
According to a signed plea agreement between Oklahoma state prosecutors and Justin Sneed, Justin killed Barry at the direction of his older friend, someone who he considered an older brother, Richard Glossop. As of the time of this recording, Richard Glossop is scheduled to be executed by the state of Oklahoma on December 8th, 2022.
The 60-day stay of execution he was recently granted means any court action before that time could further delay it altogether or call off the execution entirely.
Since this is a very much ongoing and open case, I'll continue to follow it. If there are any updates to Richard Glossop's execution date that's scheduled for this December, just two months from now, I will bring them to you in a future episode of the show.
If you're interested in following the story on your own, information about the status of the execution is available on the Death Penalty Information Center website at deathpenaltyinfo.org.
Another way to stay updated is through the SaveRichardGlossop.com website. But please keep in mind this website, SaveRichardGlossop.com, is operated entirely by supporters of Richard Glossop. So it is one-sided.
But full disclosure, in my research, I found this website to be informational in keeping up with the status of Richard's case. But again, that website is run by his attorneys and his supporters. The next several weeks will be critical for Richard Glossop, his family, supporters, and the legal team.
They have all vowed to continue to fight for Richard's life until the very end. They continue to stand behind a person who they believe is innocent. They stand behind a person convicted of capital murder without a shred of forensic evidence linking him to the crime. No DNA, no fingerprints, no trace evidence,
There is nothing in the way of forensic evidence linking Richard Glossop to the 1997 murder of motel owner Barry Van Trees. This story begs the question, can a man be executed solely on the confession of a convicted killer and without any forensic evidence?
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And you'll want to listen to this one because I'm going to let you know what I think about Richard Glossop's situation. Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode. We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving a positive review or tell friends and family about us. You can also support the show through Patreon.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. We'll have a brand new case and a brand new story to talk about. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings.
And.
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