The Murder of Sherri Dally

For this case I watched an episode of Fatal Vows. It’s season 2 episode 2, titled ‘In a Lonely Place.’

A young mother of two disappears while she’s out shopping.

Background

Sherri Guess met her husband Michael while they were in high school at Ventura High School in 1978. They eventually married in 1982, and had two sons together.

Sherri was described as a typical California beauty, a great mom, and an all around happy person. Sherri and Michael both worked together at a local grocery store, until Sherri opened up her own daycare.

A Troubled Marriage

After Michael and Sherri’s second son was born things started going downhill in their marriage. Michael had a wandering eye and an addiction to cocaine. Michael was also what some would call emotionally abusive to Sherri, he would always put her down no matter what she did.

Sherri tried to change her appearance and how she dressed for Michael, but he wasn’t interested. What Sherri didn’t know is that Michael was having an affair with a woman named Sally, and occasionally doing drugs with sex workers.

In 1989, things got even worse when Michael was transferred to a store in Santa Barbara. Michael would spend days sleeping, and nights at work, and never spend time with the family. He was eventually transferred back, but soon he met a new woman named Diana Haun.

The Breaking Point

Michael didn’t try to hide his relationship with Diana at work. All his co-workers knew he was married, and no one seemed to like Diana. She was described as being weird and quiet. The store tried to keep them apart by transferring Diana to the day shift.

Eventually, Michael didn’t hide his relationship with Diana from Sherri either. Sherri would find women’s items around the house, and he wouldn’t deny that he had a girlfriend.

On Christmas Day 1995, Sherri told her mom that Michael and the kids were spending the day with Diana. Sherri started to report various things about Diana to her friends, and eventually confronted Diana on January 6, 1996, and again in March.

Just two months before Sherri disappeared, she was planning to leave Michael, and telling her mom that she could make it on her own.

The Disappearance

On May 6, 1996, Michael arrived home after work to find several daycare parents waiting to drop off their kids. Sherri was nowhere to be found, so Michael called the police. The police told Michael that he’d have to wait 72 hours or for a suspicious circumstance to happen.

The daycare parents offered to help Michael search, and about an hour into searching they found Sherri’s car. It was in the Target parking lot in Ventura. Sherri had gone shopping for Mother’s Day. Michael rushed to the scene and called the police.

The police arrived and searched the van. The keys were still in the ignition, Sherri’s ID was on her key ring, and the gifts were on the floor of the car.

The police went to speak to Michael again that night, but he wasn’t home. They had the dispatch center call the home phone, but no one answered. The police found this odd because Sherri was missing, and Michael didn’t seem to want to wait by the phone for any news.

A Kidnapping?

The next day, a female detective told the police that her sister saw a woman matching Sherri’s description get arrested at Target. The sister said the arrest was made by a woman driving a teal colored Nissan, and Sherri was put into the back seat.

The police also went to speak to Sherri’s friends, and they all told the police that they needed to speak to Diana Haun. Detective Sean Conroy did just that, and said when he knocked on Diana’s door, she answered wearing only lingerie. Michael’s car was also in the driveway, and he appeared wearing only shorts. The two were asked to go to the police station for questioning.

Diana’s Story

While interviewing Diana, the police asked her to write a summary of her activities on May 6. Diana told them that she had spent the morning and afternoon riding her bike alone. She maintained she had nothing to do with Sherri’s disappearance.

Soon, the police received a call from a co-worker of Diana’s. She said that Diana had arrived at work on May 6, an hour late, and had scratches on her forehead.

The police went back into the room with Diana, and asked her to move her hair back. Diana did in fact have two small scratches on her forehead that were obviously made by fingernails. Diana told them that she fell off her bike, but Det. Conroy knew she was full of shit.

The police took pictures of Diana’s injuries, but she and Michael were let go. The police didn’t have any evidence, and Sherri hadn’t even been found yet.

The Teal Nissan

Over the next week, the police went to various rental car places to see if Diana had rented a car. The police soon got lucky when a record of Diana renting the teal Nissan was found at a rental car place at the Oxnard Airport. The records showed that she had rented it on May 5, and returned it with a broken mirror.

The police were able to search the car. Inside they found traces of blood in the carpet, floorboard and seats. It was apparent that there had been a large struggle.

Diana and Michael were again called into the police station. Diana still maintained her innocence, and asked to speak to Michael. Det. Conroy let Michael come into the interrogation room, while they watched. He described it as very weird, and that Michael tried to pump Diana up. Michael was also heard telling Diana that the police didn’t have anything on them, and that they’d be released.

Diana was arrested, but eventually released without being charged. News of Sherri’s disappearance and Diana’s arrest spread in the news and media.

All Roads Lead to Diana

A tip came into the police from a woman who worked at wig shop in Oxnard. She told the police that she recognized Diana after seeing her in the media. Diana had come into the shop, and said she wanted to look official, like a cop, so she could scare someone.

The police obtained Diana’s bank records, and discovered she also bought a suit, shoes, crazy glue, matches, large trash bags, lighter fluid and an axe.

The police knew that Diana had probably been in a major struggle, after finding the blood in the rental car. They decided to re-examine the photos they took of her with the cuts on her head, and noticed that she also had bruising on her arms. The bruising was very light, and honestly I couldn’t tell from looking at the picture.

The police did some more digging into Diana, and found out that she had studied witchcraft. Diana had told a co-worker shortly before Sherri’s disappearance, that she planned to do a human sacrifice for her boyfriend’s birthday. Michael’s birthday was on May 21.

The police now had evidence that led to Diana, and they decided to take one more look at her rental car, which had about 126 miles on it.

The Discovery

On June 1, the search led the police to search on Canada Largo Road, a road on the outskirts of Ventura.

A women’s shoe and sunglasses were found at the edge of a canyon. Sherri’s remains were eventually found in the same area, and she was identified through dental records.

The medical examiner ruled that Sherri died after being beaten and stabbed. They ruled that her head had been decapitated, and there was a marking that proved it was done with an axe, like the one Diana had purchased.

Arrests and Convictions

On August 1, Diana was arrested at work, and charged with murder. Her boss said that she walked out calm and quiet that day.

Michael was arrested on November 16, 1996, and the prosecution believed her was the puppet master. Diana had called Michael several times on May 6, which her phone records proved.

On September 27, 1997, Diana was found guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. She was sentenced to life without parole.

On April 6, 1998, Michael was also found guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. He was sentenced to life without parole. The prosecution believed that Michael didn’t want to get a divorce, and wanted Sherri’s life insurance policy.

Michael’s former girlfriend Sally also testified that Michael had asked her to kill Sherri as well, and that he would manipulate anyone to get what he wanted.

Other

In 1998, Michael and Sherri’s kids were awarded $6.4 million for the financial and emotional lawsuit against Diana, but there’s no reports that say if they got the money or not.

In 2018, Michael appealed to Jerry Brown, the former California governor, for clemency, but it was denied in 2019.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I feel so sad for Sherri’s family, especially her kids. They not only lost their mom, but their dad because he was selfish and greedy. Michael didn’t care about anyone but himself.

I believe he manipulated Diana, however she chose to kill Sherri, and she deserves to be in prison for life. I will never understand how someone can take someone’s life, but Diana barely knew Sherri, and still was willing to do this to keep Michael in her life.

Sources

https://heavy.com/news/sherri-dally-murder/

https://heavy.com/news/michael-dally-today/

https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/2018/10/24/sherri-dallys-murder/

https://popculturecrime.medium.com/ventura-crimes-the-murder-of-sherri-dally-38d12c7137de