WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014 • THE BRANDON SUN NEWS • A5
‘I do not want my sister forgotten’
5 years after Sherri Leigh Green’s death, family reveals details, offers reward to help nab killer
BY IAN HITCHEN
Before driving to the family cabin for one of her getaways from the city, Sherri Leigh Green stopped for fuel and cigarettes at the Brandon gas station where her sister worked.
She parked in front of the shop’s doors and Glenda Gerry could see that Sherri’s car was packed for the trip.
Sherri walked in, said hi and then — as they sometimes would — the sisters argued. Sherri was taking her beloved cat Mindy to the cabin, but Glenda felt the cat didn’t belong there.
“If I had of known then that was the last time I was going to talk to my sister, it would never have ended the way that it did,” Glenda recalled in a recent interview. “That’s something that I will never, ever forget. Our last discussion was an argument.”
Six days after she stopped at the gas station, Sherri’s body was found inside the cabin at Wasagaming.
That was five years ago today. Her killer hasn’t been caught and her family says they have no idea who killed her.
Now, frustrated by the lack of word of any suspects or progress from RCMP investigators, they’ve stepped forward to share what they know about the killing in the hope someone will come forward with information.
They’re offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to the conviction of the killer. They say they don’t want Sherri’s case to turn “cold.”
“I do not want my sister forgotten. There is somebody out there that knows something,” Glenda said. “We want answers. It has been a very rough five years on the family.”
RCMP confirmed on Tuesday that the investigation continues, but didn’t have word of any suspects or arrests, or release or confirm details due to the ongoing investigation.
“The file is still under investigation, that’s pretty much the details we have at this point,” said Manitoba RCMP spokesman Const. David Portelance. “It is still an investigation. It’s not a closed box, it’s still wide open, and they’re still working on it, that’s for sure.”
For the first time, Sherri’s family is sharing some of the details about how her body was found at the cabin on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009.
It was Sherri’s second sister and her brother-in-law, Lisa and Dave Taylor, who found her.
Thelastcontactthefamily had with 39-year-old Sherri before she was found seems to have been a text message received by the Taylors’ daughter, Vanessa.
The Taylors believe that the message from Sherri, which was about her cat going missing for ashorttime,wassentfromthe cabin.
Sherri—aformernurse’saide whoworkedinhomecare,and a former truck driver — was between jobs at the time, but had plans to return to nursing.
She wasn’t married and had nochildrenandwouldgoalone tothecabin,whichhadbeenin the family for at least 44 years, for getaways from Brandon whereshelivedbyherselfina townhouse.
The last text message was received sometime Sunday or Monday,priortothediscovery of her body on Thursday.
By that Thursday, Vanessa hadn’t heard from her aunt in days. Worried, she asked her parents if they’d heard anything and was told no.
With no working landline phone at the cabin, and after repeated failed attempts to reach Sherri on her cellphone, Lisa decideditwastimetodriveto the cabin to see if her sister was OK.
SheandDaveleftBrandon shortlyafter6p.m.andarrived at the cabin about 7:30 p.m.
The small two-room cabin was in the Old Campground at Wasagaming, where cabins
LEFT: Sherri Leigh Green (far left) is pictured with her sisters Glenda Gerry (middle) and Lisa Taylor. (Submitted) ABOVE: Police tape stretches across a section of the Old Campground at Wasagaming after Sherri’s body was found in her family’s cabin five years ago today. (File)
stand in long rows within 10 feet of each other.
But there would have been relatively few people staying at the site during the week that late in cottage season, after children had returned to school from summer break.
As the Taylors neared the cabin, Sherri’s favourite song, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” was playing on the car radio. The song ended just as the Taylors pulled up to the front of the cabin.
Sherri’s car was parked in front. It was still light out and, unusually for that time of day, the patio lights were on.
As the Taylors approached the door, Sherri’s cat could be heard meowing inside. The cabin door was locked and, figuring Sherri was away at the Wasagaming townsite, the Taylors let themselves in with their key.
It was dark inside but they could see Sherri’s silhouette againstawindowwherelight filtered in through the drawn curtain. She was sitting in a chair in the kitchen.
Lisa called out to Sherri but she didn’t respond, and Dave turned on the light to find a horrifying scene.
Sherri was seated in the chair, leaning slightly to one side with her hand almost touching the floor. There was a gaping wound to the left side of her neck near the back.
That wound and the amount of blood on the floor made it clear that she was dead.
Dave told Lisa they had to “getthehellout.”Theyleftthe cabinandclosedthedoorsofast that they forgot to grab the cat.
Outside, Lisa screamed, “That’s my sister! That’s my sister!” Dave tried to comfort her as he called 911 on his cellphone.
Neighbours emerged from theircabinwhentheyheard Lisa scream. The couple took thedistraughtTaylorsintotheir cabinandgavethemcoffeeas they awaited police.
One of the family’s frustrations remains how long it took RCMP to respond. The Taylorssayitwasabouttwo hoursbeforethefirsttwoofficers arrived on scene.
They question why it took officerssolongtorespondwhen there’s a detachment in Wasagaming.
Dave says that, as the couple waited for RCMP to arrive, police or dispatch called him back two or three times to seek more information as they tried to work out what type of resources to send.
After officers arrived, Dave was able to get Sherri’s cat, which the Taylors placed in their car.
In the minutes following the discoveryofthebody,Davehad also called Sherri’s father, Glen, in Brandon. Glen had high bloodpressure,andtheshockat newsofhisdaughter’sdeath sent him briefly to hospital where he received medication.
He and Glenda then travelled toWasagamingand,afterastop
at the scene, joined the Taylors at the RCMP detachment in the early morning.
Glenda says it was at the detachment that an officer told the family Sherri’s case was a homicide.
In the days and weeks that followed, police interviewed all of Sherri’s immediate family, including Dave and Lisa multiple times, Glen and Glenda.
Extended family members were also interviewed, as well as neighbours from the cabin area and contacts on Sherri’s cellphone.
The family also handed over six months of records for Sherri’s cellphone and let investigators into her apartment when asked.
But the relationship between the family and RCMP began to sour early, even before Sherri’s funeral on Oct. 1, 2009.
Glen says in the days leading up to the funeral, he consented toapolygraph(liedetector)test. But, he said, when he went for the test at the Brandon detachment, he was interrogated for four hours instead.
Upset by the interrogation and afraid that investigators seemed to be pointing at him, Glen says he declined to do a polygraph because he’d told police all he had to offer.
Lisa says that during one of her interviews by police a few weeks after Sherri’s death, investigators stated that they believed the killer had been close to Sherri.
Dave says that shortly after thefuneral,policetoldhimhe wasasuspectandaskedhimfor a polygraph. Lisa says she was also told she was a suspect, and she and other family members were asked to take the test, too.
The Taylors say that, after consulting a high-profile Winnipeg lawyer — who advisedthemnottotakethelie detector tests as police were “grasping at straws” — they declined.Lisawasn’tsureshe could trust police.
In the end, no family member took a lie detector test and the Taylors say that, based on advice fromtheirlawyer,theystarted tolimittheirco-operationwith police.
Then, the Taylors say official communication between RCMP and the family all but ceased. Lisa said that for the last few years, she received an annualcallfrompoliceinwhich they tried to encourage her to take a polygraph.
Some information was shared with the family by one local RCMP officer, but even that flow of information petered out whentheofficerretired.
However, there are tidbits the family gleaned from RCMP before the communication breakdown.
First, Sherri’s family says police told them they’d eliminatedSherri’sboyfriendof thetime,MarkWilliton,from being a suspect.
Williton, a trucker from Alvinston, Ont., met Sherri about two years prior to her
death and would visit her during cross-country trips.
The day of Sherri’s funeral, he contacted the Brandon Sun to say he wasn’t responsible for her death.
Williton said he and Sherri were in Brandon on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009, where they picked out a promise ring. They then spent the weekend together at the cabin alone, arriving on Sept. 11 and leaving on Sunday, Sept. 13.
He said Sherri dropped him off at the Brandon truck stop where he’d left his truck. He then went on a trucking run into the western United States.
Williton said he last spoke to Sherri by phone on the Sunday he left, and she was at the cabin then.
Lisa says the last time she spoke to Sherri was by phone on that Saturday. Sherri told her she was having lunch with Williton, but didn’t mention where.
Williton said he was interviewed by police in Winnipeg after learning of Sherri’s death.
The family says there was also a report that a neighbour had spotted Sherri taking out garbage at her apartment on the Monday morningpriortothediscovery of her body.
They say RCMP indicated that Sherri may have received a call or text message that asked her to return to Wasagaming to meet someone.
Then, there was a report that Sherri had been spotted at the Wigwam Restaurant in Wasagaming with a “scruffy guy” on Tuesday.
The family also believes that investigators may be looking for a man based on a footprint found at the scene.
Beyond that, the family is left with rumour and speculation.
They’ve never heard, for example, whether any weapon that may have been used in the killing has ever been found. Speculation has ranged from a hatchet to hammer, an icepick to a knife.
Cause and time of death also remain a mystery to them. A woman with the Office of the Medical Examiner called the Taylors prior to the funeral, but didn’t go into details due to the ongoing investigation.
“She said that Sherri did not suffer. It was quick,” Lisa says.
Lisa recalls Sherri appeared to be wearing jeans when she was found, suggesting to her that she’d been killed in the evening.
In mid-October 2009, after police were done with the cabin, Dave returned to oversee its cleaning and noticed details he hadn’t seen before.
Among the most disturbing was the blood spatter on the walls and ceiling.
But aside from the blood, the cabin looked like it did when Sherri was there for the evening. The cabin was clean and the dishes were done.
The coffee maker had water and coffee in it — Sherri would prepare the maker in the evening,soitwasreadytogothe next morning.
There was no sign that anyone had forced their way in. Dave and Lisa say Sherri would lock the cabin door when she was there, and she didn’t like the thought of strangers in the cabin.
Despite all the unanswered questions, there is one thing the family does know — investigators haven’t told them that any family member has been ruled out as a suspect.
Lisa says that at one point an investigator told her it would help if police could clear the family.
The family says they’re willing to help push the case forward.
About a year ago, Lisa said she was contacted by RCMP, who again asked her to do a polygraph, and both she and Dave consented.
Tests were set for mid- December but cancelled by RCMP when the tester fell ill. The Taylors say RCMP didn’t get back to them with new dates.
Lisa says that last week, after the Brandon Sun started to look into the family’s concerns, RCMP called her and rescheduled the polygraphs for her and her husband. Dates are now set for mid-November.
Glenda and Glen agree that the family should now do polygraphs, if that’s what it takes to push the case along.
Meanwhile, Sherri’s sisters have lost their last living connection to her.
Mindy the cat was adopted by Dave and Lisa following Sherri’s death. On Aug. 24, the day after what would have been Sherri’s 44th birthday, Mindy died from kidney disease.
Any happy memories at the cabin from years past were wiped out by Sherri’s killing, the family says. Shortly after her death,they removed the cabin from its site and burned it.
As for the family’s concerns about lack of information, Portelance said the force is in contact with the family, and they can raise concerns with the lead investigator who’s with the Winnipeg major crimes unit.
“If they have any questions they can call him, and he’ll do his best to answer them,” Portelance said.
The Sun’s attempts to reach the lead investigator on Tuesday failed.
This article has been published here with the permission of The Brandon Sun.
