0:06

Hey, Small Town Fam, it's Yardley.

0:08

How are you guys? I hope you're

0:10

all kicking ass today. We

0:13

have a great two-parter

0:15

for you today. So I'm often

0:18

asked in interviews when I do press for Small

0:20

Town Dicks, what have you learned

0:22

from doing 12 seasons of listening

0:25

to these detectives?

0:26

And the thing I always think about is how

0:29

meticulous the work of gathering

0:31

evidence is, and then how

0:33

perfectly those precious pieces of

0:36

information need to fit together in

0:38

order for justice to be served. And

0:41

then even after all that, how

0:43

a case can get derailed on

0:45

the smallest technicality or

0:47

a judge's ruling that only

0:49

makes sense to them.

0:51

And then everybody just has to deal with it

0:54

and dance with the one that brung them. Today's

0:57

episode is all that. It

1:00

begins with a vicious murder and

1:03

a verdict 40 years later.

1:06

It's a stunning example of how the investigators

1:08

we talk to on this podcast may

1:11

be forced to set a case aside for

1:13

a period of time, but it never

1:15

actually leaves them.

1:17

The details, the questions,

1:20

the what-ifs, the longing

1:23

to get justice for the victims seep

1:25

into everything they do.

1:27

And it stays that way

1:29

even after they retire.

1:31

Because as detectives Dan and Dave

1:33

always say, being a detective

1:36

isn't just a job,

1:38

it's a calling. Here

1:40

is

1:41

The Wait. Hi

1:48

there, I'm Yardley. I'm Dan. I'm

1:51

Dave. And I'm Paul. And this

1:53

is Small Town Geeks. Dave and I are identical

1:56

twins and retired detectives from Small

1:58

Town, USA. And I'm a vet.

1:59

veteran cold case investigator who helped catch

2:02

the Golden State Killer using a revolutionary

2:04

DNA tool. Between the three of us,

2:06

we've investigated thousands of crimes from

2:08

petty theft to sexual assault, child

2:10

abuse to murder. Each case

2:12

we cover is told by the detective who investigated

2:15

it, offering a rare, personal account

2:17

of how they solved the crime. Names, places,

2:20

and certain details have been changed to protect the privacy

2:22

of victims and their families. And although

2:24

we're aware that some of our listeners may be familiar

2:27

with these cases, we ask you to please join

2:29

us in continuing

2:29

to protect the true identities of those involved

2:32

out of respect for what they've been through.

2:34

Thank you. Today

2:45

on Small Town Dicks we have the usual

2:48

suspects. We have Detective Dave.

2:51

Greetings Yardley. Greetings,

2:53

Dave. As I like to call you. We

2:55

have Detective Dan shaking his head like

2:58

please, these people. He's just weird. Hello

3:02

everyone. Hello you. And we

3:04

have the water-dwelling potholes. Hey

3:06

hey. Hey hey. And Small

3:09

Town fam, we are so pleased

3:11

to welcome back to the podcast

3:14

Detective Linz. Hello. Hello.

3:17

We're so thrilled to have you. Thank you. Since

3:20

you have brought us several

3:22

interesting cases over the course

3:25

of Small Town Dicks, and I've

3:27

only had a glimpse of what's coming today, and

3:30

this case really took you on a journey

3:32

that lasted 40 years, and so

3:34

I'm eager to dig into it. But

3:37

before we get started, I'd like

3:39

to welcome another guest to the podcast.

3:42

He's a new guest who is also an integral

3:44

part of this case. Please

3:47

welcome Judge Bob.

3:49

Nice to be with you. Thank you Bob.

3:52

So the case you all are going to share with

3:54

us today starts with a horrific

3:57

murder in Before

4:00

we get into it, I'd love for

4:02

you to give us a little background on

4:05

where you both were in your careers at that time.

4:07

Bob, let's start with you.

4:10

In 1981, I'm Deputy

4:12

DA for Monterey County,

4:15

California. And Bob, did

4:17

you already know Detective Linz when this case

4:19

began? Yes, I did. Linz

4:23

had been in the sheriff's office for a while.

4:26

We both turned 80 this year. He

4:29

and I had worked on other cases

4:32

before. Yes, 1981. I

4:36

was a detective. I'd been

4:38

on the department for 10 years. We

4:40

kind of know each other, I think. And

4:44

Bob, you also know our producer

4:47

Gary. I do know your producer

4:49

Gary. I have known Gary

4:52

since he was born because

4:56

my sister is his mother. So

4:58

Gary's my nephew. And

5:01

we're a tight-knit family, always have

5:03

been. And I've always

5:05

been close to him every

5:07

part of his life and

5:10

every part of mine. And I

5:13

know I had talked to you, Gary,

5:16

about this case way

5:18

back in the day. So

5:21

Gary, you were in the know

5:23

way back when. Do you want to say hi

5:26

to your Uncle Bob? Hey,

5:28

Uncle Bob. I remember

5:30

talking with you about this case

5:33

for the first time decades ago and off and

5:37

on over the years. And once

5:39

I started with Small Town Dicks, I always thought

5:41

it would make a great story. But as everybody

5:43

is going to hear, we had to wait for the right

5:46

time to tell it.

5:47

And I'm very proud

5:50

that we're able to now tell the

5:52

story completely.

5:55

And it's taken over two

5:57

years just to do the two

5:59

episodes. and I've lived with

6:01

it, he's lived with it, Detective

6:03

Linz has lived with it for

6:06

a lot longer than that. Well,

6:08

I thank you all for coming together to

6:11

share this story with us today. Bob,

6:14

why don't you start

6:16

by letting us know why this

6:19

case is so important to you?

6:22

Well, it was one of the salient

6:24

cases that I ever did. Here

6:27

we are all this time along, but why

6:29

this case is important to

6:32

law enforcement people, to Linz, to me,

6:35

it's important in a lot of ways because

6:37

this case was

6:40

personal with the people who

6:42

were involved in investigating

6:45

it and prosecuting it. We

6:47

hear that often on this podcast, that

6:50

these cases get under your skin and then

6:52

they just, they don't ever

6:54

leave you. So please

6:57

tell us how this case came to you.

7:00

It was about noon on

7:02

October the 15th, 1981, a

7:05

little more than 40 years ago.

7:07

I was sitting in my office in Monterey,

7:10

California, and a person

7:12

from communications comes running across

7:14

the hall and says, hey, you better run down to

7:16

this address in Carmel.

7:18

A person has reported a possible dead body

7:20

at that location. My partner

7:23

and I were anticipating, okay,

7:25

we've got a possible homicide.

7:27

We're driving from Monterey into Carmel.

7:29

It's probably about a 10 minute drive. Carmel

7:33

is a city that's one square mile, right

7:35

off the Pacific Ocean. You can hear the waves

7:37

crashing against the shore. It's not

7:39

where you'd expect to come across

7:42

a violent crime like we did.

7:44

Carmel 1981 was the last place on earth

7:46

almost that

7:50

you would expect to find a dead body

7:53

of a woman in her own home. She

7:56

was found on her back sexually.

8:00

posed, strangled with a set

8:02

of pantyhoves, her black

8:04

slacks laying nearby, right

8:07

inside her door, immediately at the

8:10

front door. It was big

8:13

news from the minute

8:16

it happened. Carmel is a sleepy,

8:19

quiet, touristy,

8:22

artsy, wealthy town.

8:26

Carmel by the sea. You just don't

8:28

have violent crime there. Exactly.

8:31

So when we arrive

8:33

at the house, the first thing I see is there's two sheriff's

8:36

patrol units there.

8:37

One of the deputies comes up to

8:39

us and says, I want to warn you that it's

8:41

not a pleasant scene. So

8:44

my partner Bert and I go into this small

8:46

little cottage,

8:48

and the first thing that we see

8:50

is,

8:51

here's our victim. She's facing

8:53

the front door. She's flat on her back. The

8:56

only clothing she has on is a jacket,

8:58

her blouse, and

9:00

her bra. It's all been pulled up

9:03

over her shoulders and

9:05

around

9:06

her neck. To me, it's either

9:08

a nylon stocking, it's pantyhose.

9:10

I can't tell what it is. It's tied so tightly. Her

9:14

face is discolored. She has blood

9:17

running out of her nose and her mouth. There's

9:19

blood spatter.

9:20

It looks like she's maybe been punched in the face. She's

9:24

obviously fought because she's got more than

9:26

one broken fingernail.

9:27

She's been pronounced dead by the paramedics.

9:31

I see laying to her left is her purse, contents

9:34

scattered all around it, her driver's

9:36

license is there.

9:38

Her name was Sonia Stoner.

9:41

Did you know who she was in the community?

9:45

Everyone knew who Sonia was. Sonia

9:48

was popular in the community. She

9:50

was a good mother. She had a very responsible

9:53

job

9:54

working for Levi's Drowse. And

9:56

so this is an unusual crime

9:59

scene. the heck is going

10:01

on, you don't have a door-to-door

10:04

rapist. I think we all

10:06

found it shocking on a number of

10:08

levels.

10:09

One level was that

10:12

it was in

10:13

Carmel. On another level,

10:16

it was unusual that

10:19

it was a sexualized

10:21

homicide, and we could tell

10:24

that immediately. It

10:26

was shocking at the time. And

10:29

we didn't know and couldn't have known

10:31

initially that this

10:34

wasn't some kind of a serial

10:36

killer situation. Maybe we'd

10:39

find that our perp did another

10:41

one in Fresno the week before, or one

10:43

in South Dakota last year, or we

10:46

just had so little information

10:48

from the crime scene itself.

10:51

What was Sonya's living situation?

10:53

Did she live by herself? She have a husband,

10:56

a partner? Sonya and her

10:58

husband had one child, Sasha,

11:01

who at the time Sonya was killed was

11:04

four.

11:05

Sonya was not living with her husband.

11:08

We immediately focus on

11:10

Sonya's husband

11:11

because in our experience at

11:14

the time, you can almost

11:16

take it to the bank

11:18

that the husband

11:20

is the killer, the vast

11:22

majority of the time.

11:24

However, her husband checked

11:26

out pretty quickly as not being

11:28

in the area when this happened.

11:30

Yeah, Sonya was separated from her husband,

11:33

who was up in the Bay Area as well. Did

11:35

you know what time Sonya had been killed? We

11:38

had a witness,

11:41

a friend of Sonya's who went

11:43

to her home very short time

11:46

after she was killed. And we know that

11:48

it was a very short time after she was killed because

11:50

Sonya had taken her daughter to

11:52

the Montessori school that morning and

11:56

had returned home on

11:58

her way to work. And

12:01

shortly after Sonya was killed,

12:04

her friend stopped by. And

12:07

the way things were, her friends just walked

12:09

in. She didn't lock her door.

12:12

The witness to the crime, the one that discovered it,

12:15

her name is Carol. Carol

12:17

was one of Sonya's best friends,

12:21

and she had been talking to Sonya on the telephone

12:23

that morning. Carol

12:25

happened to be in the area as a real estate

12:27

agent looking at some property near

12:30

Sonya's house. She

12:32

decided to stop by Sonya's house. So

12:35

she approached the front door, tried

12:37

to open it, and the door wouldn't

12:39

open all the way. And she was able to look down

12:42

and see that it was one of Sonya's legs

12:44

that was blocking it. She looked inside,

12:46

saw Sonya's nude body with something

12:49

wrapped around her neck, and

12:51

she immediately started screaming, ran to her car,

12:54

and drove away at a high rate of speed, stopping

12:57

about a block away at a neighbor's

12:59

house. And that's when she yelled

13:02

for help, and that man ended

13:04

up calling 911, which ended

13:06

up in my responding to the scene.

13:09

So at the crime scene, the

13:12

evidence technician was directed to

13:14

pick up everything around Sonya's

13:16

body. That included the contents

13:18

of her purse and a broken

13:21

fingernail. They bagged

13:23

her hands, and at that time

13:25

it was determined that the autopsy

13:28

would be conducted by

13:30

Dr. Boyd Stevens, a forensic

13:33

pathologist, the coroner of

13:35

San Francisco and San Francisco County.

13:38

He was, at that time, a renowned expert in

13:40

the field.

13:41

We decided to send her body

13:43

to San Francisco because,

13:45

in this particular case, we need experts.

13:48

At that point, my partner decides,

13:50

I'll

13:51

do the interior, and you go contact

13:54

surrounding citizens and go knock on

13:56

every door you can and see what you can find out.

13:59

My job was to go out throughout

14:02

the neighborhood and interview

14:04

all the neighbors.

14:07

Most of them aren't there or who are

14:09

there, so they didn't hear or see anything. There

14:11

was a house right across the street.

14:14

I went up to that house, left a business

14:16

card, nobody was there.

14:18

And I didn't come up with anything particularly

14:21

good on that very first day.

14:23

Meanwhile, you guys are worried there might be a serial

14:25

killer on the loose.

14:26

That's right. The

14:31

next morning, I learned

14:37

that up in

14:40

San Francisco, Sonia

14:46

is now undergoing an autopsy. They've

14:49

taken some of her fingernails off

14:51

and they've noticed that the clippings, that they've noticed

14:53

she's got blood under them. We

14:56

continue canvassing the neighborhood. We

14:59

see a guy across the street from Sonia's

15:02

out there working on his boat, standing

15:05

on it, working with the fiberglass and sending

15:07

dust up into the air.

15:10

He's wearing a paper face mask.

15:12

So my partner and I go walking

15:14

up to him and introduce

15:16

ourselves.

15:17

When I first approached him, he was standing up

15:20

on the boat, which would be

15:22

almost like standing on a stepladder and he

15:24

could look directly into Sonia's

15:26

house. Even I could see your house

15:28

from the ground where I was standing and talking

15:31

to him.

15:32

And he's really super heavily

15:34

muscle bound. I mean, this is a guy I can tell is

15:36

in the bodybuilding. He's wearing

15:38

this T-shirt that emphasizes his

15:41

broad chest and the big biceps. And

15:43

basically he's kind of intimidating.

15:46

What was his name?

15:47

His name is Michael Glazebrook.

15:50

And I say to him, would you mind removing

15:52

your face mask? He

15:55

takes off his paper face mask. And the first

15:57

thing that I see, I have one of these with

15:59

the colonnose shells. moment, takes

16:01

off that mask and here is this fresh scratch,

16:05

starting just below his right eye, going

16:07

all the way down to his jawline. It's

16:10

about four inches long, and then it fades

16:12

away as it goes down his neck. And

16:14

I'm thinking to myself,

16:16

okay,

16:18

this victim has broken fingernails,

16:21

and here's this guy with a scratch on his face.

16:24

My mouth probably dropped down to my feet. So

16:28

I said, I'm

16:28

here investigating the murder of your

16:30

neighbor. And I point to the house and he says, yeah,

16:33

I know that was going on. I

16:35

said, we went by your house yesterday, but you weren't here.

16:37

And I left a card and he says, oh,

16:40

I was planning on maybe calling you. We

16:42

asking a few questions.

16:44

I go, well, how did you get this scratch

16:46

on your face?

16:47

He says, well, I was working on my boat yesterday,

16:49

working in my garage here. I

16:52

was cutting plexiglass and a piece of it flew

16:54

up and

16:54

cut me in the face. And I'm thinking that doesn't

16:57

look like something that would happen with a piece

16:59

of glass flying up in a face. That looks like a downward

17:01

stroke. That's what I'm thinking. He's

17:05

trying to come up with an excuse for

17:07

what you recognize as an obvious

17:09

scratch mark. And that's where the average

17:12

layperson doesn't know really

17:14

what wounds look like. And that's the advantage

17:17

that law enforcement has. When you see

17:19

wounds over and over again, and you know how

17:22

they occur, you're going, nah, you

17:24

know what, you're not telling me the truth.

17:27

Exactly.

17:28

So I said, can you show us where this

17:30

happened? He takes us into the garage where his saws

17:33

are and all his tools. And he says, I was cutting this piece

17:35

of plexiglass here that he holds up. It's

17:38

a jagged piece of glass. He said, I was trying to cut

17:40

a piece off of it here. And

17:42

it just flew up and hit me in the face.

17:45

And he says, oh, well, I didn't get it yesterday.

17:47

I said, I got it today. I got it, it

17:49

was this morning. Yeah, it was this morning. I got

17:51

it this morning. And what happened was I was cutting the plexiglass.

17:54

Cut me in the face.

17:55

And this guy is getting nervous. He's doing the eye

17:58

shifting back and forth. He's kind of bouncing.

17:59

and back and forth on his feet.

18:01

He told me three different

18:03

stories within five minutes, two

18:05

different stories about the scratch and then about how

18:08

he left that morning. And so within five

18:10

minutes, he told me three stories, wham, wham, wham.

18:12

And so that's what got me feeling very

18:14

suspicious, coupled with the scratch.

18:17

As far as my mind is concerned, he's the number

18:19

one suspect.

18:21

So I said, do you know Sonia

18:24

across the street? He says, no, I know she lives there,

18:26

but I don't know much about her.

18:28

So my partner and I say, you know, I think this is the

18:30

guy. I think this guy is a suspect,

18:33

but we don't want him to think that yet. So how

18:35

are we gonna get a photograph

18:37

of the scratch on his face?

18:39

Now, one of the problems there

18:41

is, you all know as fellow law enforcement

18:44

officers, you can ask somebody, do you mind if I take

18:46

a picture? They may or may not say yes.

18:49

So I went back to the office because

18:51

we didn't wanna spook him.

18:53

So we run a background

18:56

check on him. And actually

18:58

a couple of days pass,

19:00

we find out that he has traffic warrants, that

19:02

he hasn't appeared, he's failed to appear.

19:05

I can take him into custody on

19:07

that.

19:07

So we decide the best way to get

19:10

a photograph of him was to take him into custody

19:12

on the traffic warrants, book him into the jail. And

19:15

so we go back and

19:18

my partner and I arrested Glazebrook

19:20

at his home.

19:21

During the booking process, I

19:24

talked to the booking officers and told

19:26

them that we were really interested in getting

19:28

a good photograph of the

19:30

scratch on his face. During

19:33

all bookings, the jailers always take a forward

19:35

picture and then a side view. And

19:37

so they said they would do that for me.

19:40

He goes through the booking process. And

19:43

I say, now we got a good picture of the

19:45

scratch on his face.

19:47

Well, you remember that earlier story I

19:49

told you about not putting film on the

19:51

camera? Yes, we called that episode

19:54

Tourist Season. It's in Season 10. Well,

19:57

in this case, the camera didn't operate in

19:59

the jail. But we didn't know that.

20:02

And then later after the film had been developed,

20:04

they let me know that the camera

20:07

had failed and they did not get a picture

20:09

of the scratch.

20:11

But I didn't find that out until several days

20:13

had passed. What is it with

20:15

you and cameras? Truly, you have the

20:17

worst luck with old school film, Lenz.

20:20

I know, so yes.

20:22

And by that time, Glazebrook's scratch

20:25

had healed. So we had no photograph

20:28

of his scratch.

20:29

Oh, my God, that's devastating. Lenz,

20:32

when you initially questioned

20:35

Michael, you had arrested him on the traffic

20:37

warrants. I'm assuming that you

20:40

read Michael his Miranda rights. That's

20:42

correct.

20:43

Well, he waved his Miranda rights. He

20:46

was not represented by counsel and

20:48

he was not charged with a crime, but

20:49

he was under arrest.

20:51

You know, hindsight, I could have arrested him

20:53

for murder there, but I just thought that was premature.

20:56

So in all innocence,

20:58

took him in and felt I was

21:01

completely justified in asking him about

21:03

Sonia's case. And that came back

21:05

and really bit me in the butt,

21:08

but that's later down the line. Anyway,

21:11

I say to Glazebrook, now

21:14

that we have you here, we need to talk to you because you've given

21:16

us some inconsistent statements.

21:18

And then we ask Glazebrook

21:20

if he would be kind enough to take a polygraph

21:22

examination, which he agreed to do.

21:24

And so Bob, you probably

21:26

remember that I had

21:28

brought him upstairs to your office

21:30

where we had discussed giving him a polygraph

21:33

examination.

21:34

That's right.

21:36

The polygrapher told me, he

21:38

said,

21:38

this guy really pretty

21:41

starkly failed his test. He says,

21:43

I'm very confident that this is your

21:45

guy.

21:46

And so

21:48

they called me back in to talk to

21:50

him and I said, hey, you totally failed

21:52

this polygraph. And it shows you're lying about

21:54

everything that happened. He says, okay, I'll tell you what really

21:56

happened.

21:58

He says, what really happened was. as

22:00

I've been having an affair with Sonya.

22:03

And I was over there that morning and we had

22:05

sex as usual. And then I left.

22:08

And so I don't know what happened after that, but yeah,

22:10

I was there.

22:12

And that one was a pretty blockbuster

22:14

admission. And that admission

22:17

was brought about by a question asked,

22:19

which was, Mr. Placebrook, you say

22:21

that you had never been in her house.

22:24

What would you say if we

22:26

were to discover

22:29

your fingerprints

22:30

in her house? That was the question.

22:34

His answer was, okay,

22:37

I was in her home that morning, but

22:40

I didn't kill her.

22:41

But it doesn't account for the scratch. Now

22:43

he's just put himself at the crime scene,

22:46

but now I won't talk about the scratch. This

22:48

guy is really not good at keeping his story

22:50

straight.

22:51

No. And on top of that, he's

22:53

now gone from not knowing Sonya

22:55

to being her boyfriend. Yeah.

22:58

So he says, that's why you're going to find that

23:00

I was in the house.

23:02

My blood might be in there. My

23:04

semen might be in there.

23:06

Well, Michael's doing a pretty good job of trying to

23:08

get out in front of everything that he's been

23:10

thinking about for the last two days. Exactly.

23:13

And by the way, we thoroughly

23:16

debunked that idea. The

23:18

idea that he and Sonya were dating. Yes.

23:21

Everyone who knew her,

23:23

and she had some girlfriends that knew her intimately,

23:25

very well. And they said, look,

23:28

if she was having an affair with somebody,

23:30

she would have told us for sure.

23:33

That's one of the first stories I started checking

23:36

out. And all of her girlfriends

23:38

says that,

23:39

that just never happened. They said, we knew what was

23:41

going on in each other's lives. There's

23:43

no way she would have anything to do with this Michael

23:45

Glazebrook. They said, we'd see him standing

23:48

outside, flexing his arms and stuff, but we

23:51

weren't impressed.

23:52

I've got this picture of Michael that's just

23:55

vanity and loves himself.

23:58

And people don't say no to him. type

24:00

of guy. You

24:01

know, that's basically what we're dealing with here.

24:03

But I did not for a minute believe

24:06

that

24:06

Sonia would have had an affair with

24:09

Glazebrook.

24:10

Gradually, over the course of two or

24:12

three hours, Glazebrook gave

24:15

up a little bit more and a little bit more, some

24:17

of it contradictory with itself.

24:20

And so

24:21

then, as now, a polygraph is not

24:23

admissible, but it's a great tool.

24:25

So, in talking it over with

24:27

Bob, the prosecuting attorney, we say, well,

24:30

we just don't have quite enough at this point

24:32

to prosecute him. We need to get the

24:35

results back on the blood, and that doesn't happen

24:37

overnight.

24:38

So do you arrest Glazebrook at that time?

24:41

He's not arrested then. He's just prime suspect.

24:44

We did not want to move on it until

24:46

we were solid on it.

24:48

However,

24:49

the prosecution world

24:52

knew Glazebrook was our

24:54

man. We pretty much knew

24:56

that right from the get-go.

24:59

We're off to a red-hot

25:01

start here

25:02

because he was still talking.

25:04

Glazebrook was talking to us.

25:06

He was not charged. He had not hired

25:10

or been appointed counsel. He

25:13

was still chatting, and he was chatting around

25:15

town. He was chatting with us. And

25:18

so

25:19

we did not

25:20

file the case. We had

25:22

the sheriff continue to investigate

25:24

it, and that investigation

25:27

continued for months. And I

25:29

should point out that it wasn't just me

25:32

pushing this case. It

25:34

was the entire upper echelon

25:37

of the DA's office

25:38

that was involved in making decisions about

25:41

this case. This was the biggest case, certainly

25:43

one of the biggest cases that we'd ever had locally.

25:47

This case was very,

25:49

very seriously, to say the least,

25:51

scrutinized

25:53

within our office.

25:55

What did they determine the cause of death

25:57

to be?

25:58

The cause of death was determined to be... the asphyxiation,

26:01

the pantyhose were wrapped so tight around her neck

26:04

that she couldn't breathe.

26:06

A full autopsy was

26:08

conducted, which included a sexual

26:10

workup kit.

26:11

Now, during the autopsy, it was a

26:14

two-day affair. They shine a blacklight

26:16

all over her body and they see stuff

26:18

fluoresce, and that's probably semen.

26:21

That's important because this

26:24

was not a first-degree

26:26

murder case absent the felony

26:28

murder rule.

26:30

What's the felony murder rule? So

26:32

we had to show, in order

26:34

to pursue a first-degree murder,

26:37

that not only did this guy

26:39

kill Sonya,

26:41

but he killed her

26:42

during the commission

26:44

of an enumerated felony, namely

26:46

rape,

26:47

which meant we had to prove that

26:49

he raped her.

26:51

So the idea of testing for semen at that point

26:54

in time isn't about identifying

26:56

Glazebrook through DNA because

26:59

that technology doesn't exist yet. Basically,

27:01

what the presence of that semen does is

27:04

offer proof that Sonya

27:06

was sexually assaulted.

27:08

Correct? That's correct.

27:10

There was no DNA testing

27:12

that we were even aware of at that time.

27:16

We could test

27:17

these fluids for

27:20

blood type

27:21

in 1981. That's all we had.

27:24

ABO

27:25

blood type,

27:26

which was useful to a degree

27:29

because

27:30

if

27:31

the material found on Sonya

27:34

and the scrapings under her fingernails

27:37

were not consistent with

27:40

and exactly Michael Glazebrook's

27:43

blood type, it would have eliminated

27:45

him as a suspect. No matter

27:47

how suspicious he looked and

27:49

no matter what kind of admissions

27:51

he made, he would have been out.

27:54

And so the test does

27:56

come back later that the blood type

27:59

under Sonya's finger. matches

28:01

Glazebrook. That must have been a

28:03

really big deal. Yes, so

28:05

we're down to 50 million people who

28:08

could have done this. But we did

28:10

get rid of 72% who couldn't, and

28:13

that's not insignificant because

28:16

his blood type fit. There

28:18

are plenty of other blood types that don't

28:20

fit.

28:21

Glazebrook's fit. This

28:24

is a case of numerous

28:26

items and bits and pieces of evidence that looked to be pretty

28:29

good, and

28:32

especially when you put them together, they

28:34

look great.

28:35

But each and every one of them had

28:38

a kicker.

28:52

Hey, Small Town Fam. Want to support

28:54

upcoming seasons of Small Town Dicks? Well,

28:58

consider becoming a Patreon member

29:00

for $5 a month. When

29:02

you join Patreon, you get access to

29:04

content that's only available to

29:07

our Small Town Super Fam. So

29:09

that means you get special segments, outtakes,

29:12

and you get our regular episodes

29:15

early and ad-free. It's

29:18

a pretty good deal. I gotta say, I

29:20

might be a little biased, but listen,

29:22

I wouldn't steer you wrong on this. So we

29:24

would love it if you would go to patreon.com slash

29:28

smalltowndicks and show your support. Thank you so

29:30

much for listening. And

29:33

now, here's an ad, which,

29:35

if you belong to Patreon, you wouldn't have

29:37

to listen to. Ha ha ha.

29:46

Hey, Small Town Fam. How are you guys? It's

29:48

Yardley. So you may or may not know that I'm a pretty

29:51

good cook, but one

29:53

of the things I always wished I had was

29:55

a sous chef. Enter every plate.

29:58

Every plate.

29:59

plate is 25% cheaper

30:02

than grocery shopping. It has no hidden

30:04

fees. You can count on great value week

30:06

after week. Plus, and here's where

30:09

the sous chef part comes in, you

30:11

only pay for what you need because it has

30:13

pre-portioned ingredients. Right

30:16

now, you can do a little summer

30:18

refresh with EveryPlate's curated

30:21

collection of refreshing vegetable-filled

30:24

recipes. You can help yourself to

30:26

feel good food or 30 minutes

30:29

or less recipes, veggie,

30:31

easy cleanup, customer favorites.

30:33

There's so many categories to choose from.

30:36

One of my favorites is from the breakfast 24-7 category

30:40

is the apple cinnamon pancakes. Yes,

30:42

please. EveryPlate saves you

30:44

money over takeout. Their meals are 50%

30:47

cheaper than your average fast casual

30:49

meal. And just like

30:51

your favorite restaurant, EveryPlate meals

30:54

let you swap proteins and sides,

30:56

or you can add a protein to a veggie dish.

30:59

You do you. So, small

31:02

town fam, you can get $1.49 per

31:05

meal by going to everyplate.com

31:07

slash podcast and entering

31:09

our code smalltown49. You

31:12

heard that right. Get started with EveryPlate

31:15

for just $1.49 per meal

31:17

by going to everyplate.com slash

31:20

podcast and entering our

31:22

code, which is smalltown49. Do it.

31:35

As we moved through the early

31:37

stages of the investigation,

31:41

we put together every factoid

31:44

about Glazebrook and his history

31:46

that we could.

31:49

We ran down every rabbit hole

31:52

of his background, his friendships,

31:55

his demeanor, his character,

31:58

his occupation, his life.

31:59

his whereabouts, his habits,

32:03

all of that were of critical

32:05

importance to us.

32:07

And so we find

32:10

Glazebrook works as a handyman,

32:12

sort of an informal business

32:14

that he did. But

32:17

he worked the trades, and

32:19

he has a dishonorable discharge

32:21

from the Navy.

32:23

That was important to us.

32:26

And when we learned from his friends

32:29

that Glazebrook was a guy

32:32

who always wanted what he couldn't

32:34

have,

32:35

and then he found a way to get

32:37

it,

32:37

he just was kind of a bulldog in that way.

32:40

His friends said that Glazebrook

32:44

always seemed to get

32:46

what he wanted in the end. We

32:49

learned

32:50

a lot of things about him that fit

32:53

in with the profile

32:55

of a guy who might have done

32:57

this.

32:58

Even though that information about

33:00

Glazebrook's character is circumstantial,

33:02

it can only strengthen

33:05

your case, right? At what point

33:07

do you finally get to charge him with this crime?

33:10

What triggered the filing of the

33:12

case? He's

33:14

finally found this gal by

33:16

the name of Mickey,

33:17

who had been a girlfriend of

33:20

Glazebrook's.

33:21

Mickey is a love interest of Glazebrook,

33:24

who was interviewed numerous

33:26

times by

33:28

various

33:29

interviewers from the sheriff's office.

33:32

She's reluctant to talk to them, but

33:34

she obviously knows something important.

33:37

Yes, exactly. So Mickey

33:40

agreed to come into the office and

33:43

speak to me.

33:44

When being interviewed, she said, please

33:46

don't record me, I don't want you to record me. So

33:49

she did not get permission for anybody to record

33:51

that. At least my supervisor

33:53

was with me when I interviewed her.

33:56

Are you allowed to do that? Are you allowed

33:58

to refuse to be recorded?

33:59

even if you're being interviewed at

34:02

the police station?

34:03

You can request it. I think people

34:06

request it sometimes because they believe

34:08

that that gives them some sense of plausible

34:11

deniability, that they snitched

34:13

on someone. The other

34:15

part of that on the police side is, if

34:18

that is a witness's terms to

34:20

giving you a statement,

34:22

don't turn it down. It's better

34:24

to get a statement and have a witness present, even

34:26

though you didn't record it, than not to

34:28

get the statement at all.

34:30

Exactly. But Mickey

34:33

told me on several occasions,

34:35

and one occasion in front of Bob

34:37

as well, that Glazeburr

34:40

had told her he was

34:42

in the house on the morning of the homicide,

34:46

that he'd been having an affair with Sonya,

34:49

but that he did not kill her. Now,

34:52

that information had already

34:55

been disclosed to us by

34:58

Michael Glazeburr,

35:00

and so she said, yeah,

35:02

he told me the same thing.

35:04

He told me

35:05

that

35:06

he had been in her living room that morning.

35:09

So this didn't originate with her,

35:11

but now

35:13

we feel that we have sufficient

35:15

connection between Glazeburr and

35:18

the homicide.

35:19

So Mickey's corroborating

35:22

statement gives you what you need to finally

35:24

charge Glazeburr? Yes. You

35:27

know, I think we have to remember, this is the early 1980s, 1981. So

35:32

there was no DNA testing. I

35:35

did this kind of work in the lab, ABO

35:37

testing, enzyme testing, and its associative

35:40

value is so weak. This

35:42

is a case in which now you have to focus

35:45

in on the investigative aspects. You

35:47

have to look at witness statements,

35:50

circumstantial evidence, and see

35:52

what adds up.

35:54

This was a completely different era, forensically

35:57

speaking. Correct. And

36:00

so we file the case in July

36:02

of 82. And at that point,

36:04

do you name Glaze Brook as your main

36:07

suspect? Yes. We

36:09

charge him with the crime.

36:11

And we take the case to preliminary

36:13

examination, which is a nothing-burger

36:16

hearing.

36:17

All you have to show is reasonable

36:20

cause to believe that this guy

36:22

is guilty.

36:24

A reasonable suspicion will do.

36:26

It's the exact same standard that you use for

36:28

an arrest.

36:30

So we did a preliminary hearing after

36:32

the

36:33

successful preliminary exam we filed

36:36

in the Superior Court, the trial court.

36:39

There was a, what's

36:41

called a 995 Penal Code Section 995 review

36:43

of the statement evidence. You're

36:52

talking about the statements Glaze Brook made

36:54

to Linz when he said he knew Sonya,

36:56

they were having an affair, he'd been in her house,

36:58

etc.

36:59

Yes.

37:00

That series of statements was deemed inadmissible

37:04

because the defense

37:06

challenged that evidence

37:09

as being illegally procured

37:12

because the

37:14

police had done what the defense

37:16

called a pretext arrest. They

37:19

arrested him on a pretext of having

37:22

these traffic warrants, which he did have

37:24

and which they

37:25

totally could arrest him on.

37:28

But they did it knowing that they were going

37:30

to question him if they could about

37:33

the homicide.

37:34

The 995 motion

37:37

to eliminate his statement

37:40

to the police was

37:42

initially denied by a

37:44

Superior Court judge

37:46

and then granted

37:49

by another Superior Court judge

37:52

and

37:53

we vehemently disagreed with

37:56

that second ruling,

37:57

vehemently disagreed with it.

38:00

And to this day, I

38:02

am solidly confident

38:05

that that ruling was wrong,

38:07

unnecessary and

38:09

wrong. When we lost

38:11

that evidence where he admitted to me he'd

38:14

been in the house,

38:15

basically it was that I hadn't really

38:17

violated his rights, but I'd put him at

38:19

a psychological disadvantage by arresting

38:22

him for a traffic warrant

38:25

and then questioning him about a homicide. And

38:27

that just put him at a psychological

38:30

disadvantage where he

38:32

started telling me those stories.

38:35

I'm trying to understand this ruling and

38:38

it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. We're

38:40

all kind of scratching our heads saying, what the hell?

38:43

Much like you, I'm just completely confused.

38:46

Like, we don't have to show our cards.

38:49

That's not how it works and I'm befuddled.

38:52

Yeah.

38:53

After this ruling, we dismissed

38:56

the case and we started over

38:58

again

38:59

because of the fact that each

39:01

side can

39:02

remove a judge from the case. One

39:04

time, the defense and the prosecution, it's

39:07

called a beanball. You

39:09

can remove one judge. And

39:12

so we wanted to have a

39:15

beanball in hand.

39:17

We had to go back and do another prelim.

39:19

We got another ruling on the evidence,

39:21

which was positive, but that

39:23

was from a magistrate and it did not trump

39:26

the ruling from the Superior Court.

39:29

And so

39:30

ultimately we

39:31

were stuck. We just had

39:33

to go to trial without that statement. Yeah,

39:36

all we could get in was the blood evidence.

39:39

Once the evidence of Glazebrook's

39:41

statement post polygraph

39:44

was thrown out,

39:46

we couldn't use that statement again,

39:50

but we could use other statements

39:52

that Glazebrook had made to other

39:54

people. So you could still use the

39:56

statement from Mickey saying that Glazebrook

39:59

had told her. He'd been in Sonia's

40:01

house the morning of the murder. Exactly.

40:05

So we go to trial.

40:21

The trial in 1983, as you can imagine, was

40:27

highly public, lots of news

40:29

coverage,

40:30

very hotly contested on

40:32

the defense side. Took two,

40:35

two and a half weeks. The trial

40:37

judge was one of the great judges

40:39

of California, Nat Agliano.

40:42

We took a long time picking an excellent

40:45

jury,

40:46

very, very carefully.

40:49

We put the case on. We

40:51

called everybody that had anything relevant

40:54

to say about the case.

40:57

And Mickey testified

40:59

at trial,

41:00

but changed her story.

41:02

When she testified, Mickey said,

41:05

Blaise Brook never told me that he had

41:07

been in her home that day.

41:10

I only said that

41:11

because I was mad at Michael at the time.

41:14

The police just heckled me and heckled

41:16

me. And

41:17

it was just

41:18

because I was angry

41:20

wasn't true. And it was the

41:22

cops who put these words in my

41:24

mouth. She got up on the stand,

41:27

and she recanted those statements, and

41:30

basically called me a liar and said that I'd

41:32

made up the whole thing.

41:34

So she lied on the stand? Yes.

41:38

That was kind of hard to take, but that's not

41:40

unusual in cases where your

41:42

witnesses will

41:43

go 180s on you for whatever reason.

41:45

So that's why it's always important to have a witness

41:48

with you when you're interviewing and also record it.

41:51

So at least it's there, and it's harder

41:53

for them to deny.

41:54

It's so frustrating. It's

41:57

an attack on Detective Linz's integrity.

42:00

his professionalism.

42:01

Yeah, I felt really bad

42:03

when that was happening.

42:05

And so,

42:06

Jerry was out, I think it was

42:09

two, two and a half days, something

42:11

like that.

42:12

And they had come back a time

42:14

or two with questions.

42:17

You could tell that they were struggling.

42:20

Finally, they come back and they say,

42:22

we cannot reach a verdict. Oh,

42:25

no. So it's a hung jury. Yes.

42:29

And the judge asked them

42:32

what the breakdown was and it was nine

42:34

to three to convict.

42:36

And so we huddled

42:38

again.

42:40

We didn't feel we could put it in any

42:42

better on a second go around.

42:44

That was unusual in and of itself

42:46

because when you try a case,

42:50

quite frequently, if it's a hung jury, you'll

42:52

learn something in the course of the trial. The

42:54

defense will be forced to

42:56

show their hand,

42:58

but they didn't show us anything. We

43:00

didn't get anything new. And

43:03

so

43:03

we decided that the best thing

43:06

we could do was to suspend

43:08

the case indefinitely and

43:10

see if something didn't turn up.

43:12

So he goes free. He goes

43:14

free. He goes free. Do

43:17

we now have a double jeopardy situation? We

43:20

do not because a hung

43:22

jury is not jeopardy.

43:26

If they had acquitted him,

43:28

we could never try him again,

43:30

but they didn't.

43:32

And so

43:33

the first trial ended in a hung

43:35

jury, which was a frustration.

43:38

And I feel thoroughly

43:40

confident that had we not

43:42

lost that evidence, Glazebrook

43:44

would have been convicted in 1983.

43:47

He almost was anyway,

43:49

whilst trying that case with one hand behind our

43:51

backs.

43:53

This case should have been solved back then.

43:55

And

43:55

as we all know, the biggest hangup to this

43:57

thing was, based on the case,

43:59

on what the jury said, if you could have put him in the house,

44:02

we would have convicted him. I'm going, oh my gosh,

44:04

that's the part that got thrown out.

44:07

That's devastating.

44:09

How do you deal with a blow like

44:11

that? Because it set

44:14

this case aside for years,

44:16

decades. Where do

44:18

you put a defeat like

44:20

that?

44:23

It's a, we

44:27

carry a lot of these as Dan

44:29

and Dave can attest to, we carry a lot of these.

44:34

We carry these with us. And

44:39

some of them never go away. And

44:42

you wish there was something you could do. I've

44:47

sat with many victims of

44:49

crime. When

44:51

I've been alone with them, and I've broken

44:53

into tears.

44:56

It's

45:00

just, this is part of me. This

45:03

is the way

45:05

I operate when I do my cases.

45:07

I take them home with me. I live with them. They

45:09

become a part of me.

45:12

They never go away.

45:15

Some of them

45:18

are worse than others. This one in

45:20

particular.

45:22

I'm a type of person, as my wife can tell you, that

45:25

I hardly ever show emotion.

45:28

This case is one of those few

45:30

that tore me apart when it

45:33

happened. I remember

45:35

when I saw her daughter, I just about lost

45:37

it there.

45:40

It cost Sonya Stone's daughter 40

45:42

years of

45:45

angst

45:47

behind the fact that

45:49

her mother's killer had not been brought to justice.

45:53

And of course, Linz

45:54

keeps up with people.

45:56

And he's kept in touch with Sonya's

45:59

daughter.

46:00

all of these years.

46:02

We never let this case go.

46:05

This saga,

46:07

this long story, from 1981

46:10

until 2023, which

46:15

is 42 years,

46:17

Linz, bless his heart,

46:20

all of these years. Never

46:23

gave up.

46:27

Well, small town fam, that concludes

46:30

part one of the wait. We

46:33

leave the story in 1983, after

46:35

the case ends in a hung jury, and

46:38

the man the police and district attorney's

46:40

office are convinced is guilty of

46:42

a horrific murder, unimaginably

46:45

walks free. That's

46:47

right, Michael Glazebrook gets

46:50

to move on with his life. And

46:52

the murder of Sonia Stone remains,

46:55

technically speaking, unsolved.

46:57

And then, because

46:59

there's no new trial and police have no

47:02

other suspects, the case goes

47:04

cold.

47:05

Some in the community wonder

47:07

if police focused on the wrong person.

47:10

Others forget about the crime completely.

47:14

But of course, the story doesn't

47:16

end there.

47:17

The murder of Sonia weighs heavily on

47:19

law enforcement for decades. And

47:22

then finally, there's a break,

47:26

which is where our next episode begins.

47:28

Small town fam, we will see

47:31

you next week for part two

47:33

and the conclusion of the

47:36

wait.

47:37

Don't miss it.

47:40

Small Town Dicks is produced by Gary

47:43

Scott and me, Yardley Smith, and

47:45

co-produced by detectives Dan and

47:47

Dave. Our production manager

47:50

is Logan Heftel, our senior

47:52

editor is Soren Vasion, and

47:54

our editor is Christina Bracamantes.

47:57

Our associate producers are Erin Gaynor

47:59

and The Real Nick Smitty, our social

48:02

media is run by the one and

48:04

only Monica Scott. Our music

48:06

is composed by John Forrest and

48:08

our books are cooked and cat's wrangled by

48:11

Ben Cornwell.

48:12

If you like what you hear and want to stay

48:14

up to date with the show, visit us on our website

48:16

at smalltowndicks.com.

48:19

Smalltown Dicks would like to thank SpeechDocs

48:22

for providing transcripts of this podcast.

48:25

You can find these transcripts on our

48:27

episode page at smalltowndicks.com.

48:30

And for more information about SpeechDocs and

48:33

their service, please go to speechdocs.com.

48:36

And join the smalltown fam by following

48:38

us on Facebook, Instagram, and

48:40

Twitter at, at smalltowndicks.

48:43

We love hearing from you. And if you support us

48:45

on Patreon, your subscription will give you access

48:48

to exclusive content and merchandise

48:50

that isn't available anywhere else. Go

48:52

to patreon.com slash

48:55

smalltowndicks podcast.

48:56

That's right. Your subscription also

48:59

makes it possible for us to keep going to

49:01

small towns across the country

49:02

in search of the finest rare

49:05

true crime cases told as always

49:07

by the detectives who investigated them. So

49:10

thanks for listening, smalltown fam.

49:12

Nobody's better than you.

49:22

Transcribed

49:23

by https://otter.ai