Shirley Ann Trapp

DOB: June 6, 1959

• Det. Katherine Baer-Peoria Police Department

    On August 28, 2004, the boyfriend of Shirley Trapp filed a missing persons report with Peoria Police, indicating that he had not seen Shirley Trapp for several days and that it was unlike her to remain out of contact with him. Her family had also not seen her in about three days, around August 25, 2004. They also reported that Ms. Trapp had diabetes and needed continual medication to control her condition.  St. Francis pharmacy in Peoria was contacted in order to learn whether or not Shirley had picked up her diabetic medication.  She had not.

• Det. Dave Hoyle-PCSD   Det. Cy Taylor-TCSD

    On January 26, 2005, the defendant spoke with detectives concerning the murder of Shirley Ann Trapp. He indicated that he had picked her up on the north end of Peoria but could not recall the specific place.  He took her back to his residence at 3418 West Starr Court.  Once there, he said they smoked crack cocaine and that they had sex.  The defendant said that he could tell that Shirley Trapp sensed that something "was going to happen" and that she began to struggle.  He struck her hard in the head and then strangled her around the throat. He told detectives that it was after this incident when he had the idea to burn the bodies of the women he murdered.  He said he would build a fire and let it burn for hours until there would remain very hot coals.

    He said that he carried this body from the house out to the fire and left it burning for a day. The next day he shoveled the ashes into a bucket and disposed of them elsewhere. He said the shovel would have no evidence on it since he had cleaned it with water and a scrub brush. He said he must have missed some bones because detectives found some bone parts and remains in the yard.

    Bright told police that he dumped the remains of the women he burned in several different locations and that one of the places was in the backyard area of 630 South Anna Street in Bellevue.  This was the address of the defendant's grandmother.  He pointed out for detectives the area there where he had dumped remains.  Consistent with Bright's descriptions and locations, charred bones and related pieces could be seen at the places where he took detectives and these items were collected and analyzed.

• CSI Matt Davis-ISP

    On March 1, 2005, and thereafter, he conducted examinations of the exhibits that were recovered during the processing of scenes located at 3418 West Starr Court, Peoria, 630 South Anna Street in Bellevue, and at 2317 North Willow in Norwood, all of these places in the County of Peoria and State of Illinois. His examination found numerous human skeletal remains and Mr. Davis was able to determine that the minimum number of human beings in the array of skeletal remains presented is three.  This is based on the presence of three separate fragments of the left maxilla found at the Bellevue location.  These 3 bone fragments had to come from three separate human craniums. All of the human remains that were submitted for analysis were specifically found to exhibit changes in their color and structure as a result of a prolonged exposure to intense fire.