The Murder of Kathleen Lipscomb

For this case, I watched an episode of Forensic Files. It’s season 8 episode 17, titled ‘True Lies.’

A mother of two goes missing, and is eventually found dead in a field.

Background

Ella Kathleen (Adams) Lipscomb was born on June 1, 1956. She was a married mother of two young children, and only 30 years old at the time of her death. She had recently separated from her husband Bill, a Master Sergeant in the Air Force. Kathleen had asked for the divorce after 8 years of marriage. Bill eventually agreed, although he was not happy about it. Kathleen would take the kids during the week, and Bill on the weekend.

Kathleen worked as a nurse in San Antonio, Texas. She was described as caring, and she loved her family so much.

The Discovery

On June 8, 1986, a Sunday night, Kathleen didn't show up to pick up her kids from Bill’s. Bill and the kids drove to Kathleen’s, but she wasn’t home. Kathleen’s car was also missing, so they left notes for her at her door.

By the next morning, Kathleen was still missing. One of Kathleen’s co-workers from the hospital contacted Kathleen’s mother Nadine, to tell her that Kathleen didn’t come in for her shift.

Later that day, a man spotted the nude body of a woman in a field outside of town. It was Kathleen Lipscomb.

Kathleen’s clothing had been rolled, not folded. It told the police that whoever had done this was in or had been in the military.

There were no tire impressions or footprints near the body.

The Suspects

Bill was the first suspect. He didn’t have any injuries on his body, or DNA under his fingernails. Bill and Kathleen’s kids also told the police that Bill had been with them all weekend. For the time being, the police had moved onto other suspects.

It was revealed that Kathleen had been dating a married doctor named David Pearl. Kathleen’s family said she fell in love with him, and believed he loved her too. He promised her that he would leave his wife, who he claimed he was separated from. Actually, he told all his girlfriends this, but it wasn’t true.

Dr. Pearl admitted that he had been with Kathleen that weekend, but he didn't kill her. Kathleen’s autopsy would later reveal that she had been intimate with someone 24 hours before her death.

There was one more suspect that the police looked into. He was a neighbor and co-worker of Kathleen’s, named Vincent Robideau. He disappeared the same weekend as Kathleen. He hadn’t shown up for work, or picked up his paycheck.

Vincent was eventually found in his hometown of Galveston, Texas. He found a job as a nurse there, and said he moved back suddenly after a break up with an ex-boyfriend. He was ruled out.

Interesting Clues

A week after Kathleen died, her car was found in a restaurant parking lot, not far from her apartment. No foreign fingerprints were found on or near the car.

While searching for clues, during Kathleen’s autopsy, the medical examiner was able to narrow down her time of death. Kathleen was most likely killed on Sunday night around dinner time, and left in the field before dawn. She had undigested Chinese food in her system, and ant bites had been found on her body. Ant activity happens usually in the daytime.

Forensic investigators also found four strands of dyed red hair on Kathleen’s body. The hairs weren’t a match to any of the suspects. The police did believe at one time that a woman was maybe involved, when her neighbor saw a suspicious woman leaving Kathleen’s apartment on the Monday after she died. However, the woman was a co-worker of Kathleen’s.

Two years eventually passed without any leads. Kathleen’s family believed that Bill was somehow involved. He had increased Kathleen’s life insurance policy to $350,000, just 7 months before she was killed.

The Journal

Kathleen’s family hired a private investigator named Tom Bevans. Tom had looked through evidence found in Kathleen’s home, and found some interesting notes written in a journal.

In one entry, Kathleen wrote about a baseball tournament. She wrote that a woman named Shannon Gilbert, who worked, and was believed to be having an affair with Bill, would be there.

The second entry said “numerous calls and nights out passing information around concerning WAPS testing. Bill has all the questions to the test.” WAPS stands for Weighted Airman Promotion Testing, a test taken to receive a promotion. Bill had been promoted faster than any other sergeant, and Kathleen believed it was due to cheating.

Cracking the Case

Dr. Charles McDowell joined the investigation as part of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Dr. McDowell examined photos of Kathleen’s crime scene. He suggested that the scene was staged to look like a sexual assault. Dr. McDowell believed that Bill was the murderer, but that someone else had dumped Kathleen in the field. He also made one more note, he said Kathleen’s legs were crossed because she had been stored in a small space before being transferred to the field.

Kathleen’s daughter, who was 9 at the time, revealed that Bill hadn’t been home with them all weekend. They had gone out to dinner with Bill’s best friend Tony Burello, on that Sunday evening.

Tony was also in the military, and believed to be the one who dumped Kathleen’s body in the field.

Tony’s Confession

Months after Kathleen’s death, Tony was dishonorably discharged from the military.

Tony said that God had spoken to him, and told him to confess. He said Bill had killed Kathleen, put her body in a cedar chest, and that he had disposed of her body in the field.

Tony still had the chest, even though his BFF Bill had asked him to get rid of it. Inside, the police were able to find a small spot of blood, that was confirmed to be Kathleen’s.

Tony agreed to wear a wire, but when Bill didn’t incriminate himself, the police and Dr. McDowell had to change their tactics.

The Conviction

The police wanted Bill to know that he was being investigated. They told him that Tony and Shannon were cooperating, which they were. Shannon admitted that Bill had talked about wanting to kill Kathleen.

During Bill’s questioning, he made an accidental slip, and said he didn’t know why he killed Kathleen. He tried to fix it by saying he didn’t kill her, but it was too late.

It’s believed that Bill wanted revenge on Kathleen for blackmailing him. He also wanted custody of the kids, which Kathleen would never allow.

Bill lured Kathleen over by asking her to pick up the kids early. They got into an argument, when the kids obviously weren’t there. Bill then strangled her, and put her into the cedar chest. Some reports say Bill sexually assaulted her, but they only said Kathleen’s crime scene was staged like an assault, not that she actually had been assaulted.

It’s also believed that those red hairs found on Kathleen had also been planted by either Bill, Tony, or both, to throw off the police.

Bill pleaded guilty to murder to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison.

His sentence was later reduced to 60 years. He is scheduled to be released in 2025. According to Kathleen’s Find a Grave page, he was released in September 2021.

*A clipping from Bill’s original sentencing*

Other

Tony Burello avoided prosecution due to his cooperation.

Shannon Gilbert changed her name, and was placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

There is a book about this case titled Clue From the Grave by Irene Pence. According to Goodreads, it’s rated 3.54/5 stars. Irene was a talking head in the Forensic Files episode, and I look forward to reading this sometime.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This dude is a piece of shit. Actually, this dude and his dip shit BFF are both pieces of shit. Bill not only killed someone he at one point claimed to love, but the mother of his two children. They obviously knew he was up to no good, and admitted that Bill was not at home with them. I’m sure that was extremely hard to do, but without that information, it’s possible Bill would be on the streets today.

Bill deserved longer in prison, and Tony deserved to be in prison too. I guess our justice system can’t always get it right.

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111636472/ella-kathleen-lipscomb

https://medium.com/the-true-crime-edition/victims-diary-helps-solve-her-cold-case-a8241d293545

https://militarymurderpodcast.com/episode-16-the-air-force-promotion-test-cheating-murder/

https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-19900821-1990-08-21-9008210150-story.html

https://krazykillers.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/twists-and-turns-tell-a-torrid-tale-of-murder/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1278188.Clue_From_The_Grave