Finding Mom's Killer | 1. A little Vacation

Summary

Summary of "Finding Mom's Killer | Episode 1: A Little Vacation"

The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer is an enthralling true crime podcast series produced by Sony Music Entertainment. The inaugural episode, "A Little Vacation," delves into the harrowing disappearance of Noreen Boyle and the relentless pursuit led by her determined 12-year-old son, Collier Boyle, alongside a seasoned homicide detective. This summary captures the key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions drawn throughout the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for both new listeners and true crime enthusiasts.

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1. Introduction to the Disappearance

The episode opens in a courtroom setting in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1990, where Collier Landry Boyle, then 12 years old, takes the stand to recount the night his mother, Noreen Boyle, vanished. The narrative swiftly transitions to the early morning of January 8, 1990, detailing the circumstances leading up to her disappearance.

Quote:

"I'm Collier Landry Boyle. Can you tell us how old you are now? I am 12 years old."
— Collier Landry Boyle [01:26]

2. The Fateful Night

On the night of December 30, Collier and his mother were having dinner with his grandmother and father, Dr. Jack Boyle. After the evening routine, Collier retreated to his bedroom, a space adorned with childhood memorabilia like a Batman clock and Garfield plush toys. In the middle of the night, Collier is awakened by unsettling noises—screams, thuds, and footsteps.

Quote:

"I'm pretty sure I heard a scream. And I was kind of frozen in my bed for a second. I didn't get up."
— Collier Landry Boyle [19:00]

3. Morning Realizations

The following morning, Collier discovers his mother's bedroom in disarray—an unusual sight as she typically made her bed promptly each day. Confronting his father, he learns that Noreen had left abruptly, described dismissively as taking "a little vacation." His father's evasive responses and lack of concern raise red flags for Collier.

Quote:

"I look him dead in the eyes and I say, my mother would never leave me."
— Collier Landry Boyle [10:54]

4. Collier's Determination to Act

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Collier initiates his own investigation. He salvages his mother's cordless phone, meticulously saves her friends' contact information, and persists in reaching out despite his father's instructions not to involve the police. His proactive stance eventually forces Noreen's friends to notify the authorities about her disappearance.

Quote:

"I had to find out what happened. But I also was dreading the fact that Batman was an orphan who lost both his parents."
— Collier Landry Boyle [26:47]

5. Introduction of Detective Dave Messmore

Lieutenant Dave Messmore of the Mansfield Police Department becomes involved following the formal report of Noreen's disappearance. Initially, Dave views the case as low priority, typical of missing person reports that suggest a voluntary departure amid marital disputes.

Quote:

"Somebody will run off. They have a dispute with their spouse and they'll run away and they come back."
— Detective Dave Messmore [07:00]

6. Collier Meets Detective Messmore

Collier's impassioned plea for help catches Dave's attention, prompting him to take the case more seriously. Their first meeting occurs in a classroom, where Collier's articulate and earnest testimony convinces Dave that there is more to Noreen's disappearance than a simple marital spat.

Quote:

"He was not like a little 11 or 12 year old you'd normally talk to. He was just very astute, very well spoken."
— Detective Dave Messmore [10:40]

7. Building the Partnership

Recognizing the depth of Collier's concern and the inconsistencies in his father's account, Dave decides to collaborate closely with the young boy. Despite initial resistance from Dr. Jack Boyle, whose reputation as a beloved and dedicated doctor stands unblemished among colleagues and patients, Dave remains skeptical of his involvement.

Quote:

"He was beside himself. He didn't cry, but he was emotionally distraught."
— Detective Dave Messmore [25:20]

8. Uncovering Doubts and Suspicion

As Dave delves deeper into Dr. Boyle's life, he discovers a more complex and possibly deceptive personality behind the affable exterior. This revelation heightens his suspicions, leading him to question the husband's role in Noreen's disappearance and the nature of their strained marriage.

Quote:

"The more you talk to other people that are acquainted with him, you find out an awful lot about that person. And in his case, he had a completely different personality."
— Detective Dave Messmore [28:11]

9. The Dynamic Duo Emerges

The episode concludes with the solidification of Collier and Dave's partnership. Collier, embodying the determination and resourcefulness reminiscent of his childhood hero Batman, becomes an invaluable asset to Dave's investigation. Their complementary strengths set the stage for unraveling the mystery behind Noreen Boyle's disappearance.

Quote:

"Me and Dave. And so Collier and Dave are now a dynamic duo. The precocious preteen and the mild-mannered, middle-aged detective. It's like something out of a comic book."
— Collier Landry Boyle [26:32]

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Conclusion

"A Little Vacation" masterfully introduces listeners to the central characters and the intricate web surrounding Noreen Boyle's disappearance. Through Collier's unwavering determination and Detective Messmore's methodical investigation, the episode sets a compelling foundation for the ensuing quest for truth and justice. The interplay between a young boy's innocence and a detective's seasoned skepticism creates a captivating narrative that promises deeper revelations in subsequent episodes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• "I'm Collier Landry Boyle. Can you tell us how old you are now? I am 12 years old."
  — Collier Landry Boyle [01:26]

• "I look him dead in the eyes and I say, my mother would never leave me."
  — Collier Landry Boyle [10:54]

• "He was not like a little 11 or 12 year old you'd normally talk to. He was just very astute, very well spoken."
  — Detective Dave Messmore [10:40]

• "Me and Dave. And so Collier and Dave are now a dynamic duo. The precocious preteen and the mild-mannered, middle-aged detective. It's like something out of a comic book."
  — Collier Landry Boyle [26:32]

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This detailed summary encapsulates the essence of the first episode, highlighting the pivotal moments and character developments that drive the narrative forward. For those intrigued by true crime stories that blend emotional depth with investigative intrigue, The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer offers a gripping start to what promises to be a riveting series.

Transcript

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[Collier Landry]

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[Collier Landry]

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[Collier Landry]

I never really was a salad guy.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

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[Steve Fishman]

Listen to all episodes of Finding mom's killer ad free right now by subscribing to the binge, Visit the binge channel on Apple podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access. Wherever you listen the binge feed your true crime obsession.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

The binge. Raise your right hand, please. You swear or affirm testimony about the bill's court. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing.

[Jack Boyle]

But the truth shall help you guys.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I'm here to court you.

[Jack Boyle]

Will you tell us who you are?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I'm Collier Landry Boyle. Can you tell us how old you are now? I am 12 years old.

[Steve Fishman]

It's 1990, and we're in a courtroom in Mansfield, Ohio. The prosecution's star witness has just taken the stand. He's about to describe something that happened one fateful night a few months ago.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

You awoke at 3 to 3.

[Steve Fishman]

15Am I believe was your time. Okay.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

And what awoke you? I heard the two bangs and heard the scream.

[Steve Fishman]

Okay. And that's.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

Then I heard the footsteps.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Then you got up in the morning?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

Yes, I did. And what was the first thing you did? I looked in my mother's bedroom. Were you alarmed when you got into the bedroom or.

[Steve Fishman]

Yes, I was.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Why was that?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

The bed covers were all messed up.

[Steve Fishman]

Her bed clothes were just lying in a pile and crazy. What was going through your mind at that time?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

What were you thinking? Where's my mother.

[Steve Fishman]

Collier Landry Boyle wasn't your average 12 year old. He was very smart. He was very determined. So when his mother went missing, Collier decided it was up to him to find her. From Sony Music Entertainment and Orbit Media, this is Finding Mom's Killer. I am Steve Fishman. This is the story of how a precocious kid joined forces with with a most unlikely partner. Together, they set out to solve the mystery of his mother's disappearance. Along the way, they'd unearth one terrible family secret after another. Episode 1 A Little Vacation.

[Jack Boyle]

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[Steve Fishman]

On New Year's Day 1996 months before that 12 year old boy took the witness stand. The Mansfield, Ohio Police department was swamped with the usual holiday stuff. Bar brawls, disorderly conduct. So when a 44 year old woman named Noreen Boyle was reported missing, it was not a top priority.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

She was listed as a missing person by some of the friends of hers. Not family, but that's not unusual.

[Steve Fishman]

This is Lieutenant Dave Messmore of the Mansfield Police. When Noreen Boyle's disappearance landed on his desk, he didn't think much of it. A couple of uniformed patrolmen had been sent over to her house to check things out. Their conclusion? Nothing to worry about.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Somebody will run off. They have a dispute with their spouse and they'll run away and they come back and you know, there's only so much you can do with a missing person.

[Steve Fishman]

As you might have gathered, Lieutenant Dave Messmore isn't exactly the excitable type. In appearance, he kind of fades into the background. He's got thinning hair, a lampshade mustache, sensible glasses. He takes his time, he's methodical. He assumed Noreen Boyle was just an unhappy wife in an unhappy marriage who needed a little alone time. Then one day at his office, he received a phone call from a close friend of Noreen's.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

And she said, I'm telling you, this is not right. Noreen would never do that. And I said, well, you know, maybe she was just upset. No, no, I'm telling you, I said, I'll stop over and see what's going on.

[Steve Fishman]

So on January 2nd, Dave climbed into his department issued used Oldsmobile and drove over to Noreen Boyle's house. Now Dave was the Mansfield Police Department's head of major crimes. He wasn't supposed to go chase down leads on low priority cases. But Dave, low key, laconic Dave is full of surprises. By this point, he'd been on the force for 15 years and he'd developed a reputation for striking out on his own, for bucking his superiors. He once put away a friend, a fellow cop no less, for murder. People learned it was best not to get in his way. Another time he had a kid with a knife cornered. Other cops, debated a next step. Dave rushed him.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

I blackjacked him and just knocked him cold.

[Steve Fishman]

Dave without blackjack. Figured he'd head over to the Boyle residence, have a word with Noreen's husband, a prominent local doctor named Jack Boyle. He arrived at the house, walked up the front steps, rang the doorbell.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

It was like late morning, early afternoon. The doorbell rings, and it's this guy in a sport coat with a bushy mustache, glasses, khaki pants named Dave Messmore.

[Steve Fishman]

This is Collier Boyle. He was the kid you heard testifying at the top of the show. He's a lot older now. When Lieutenant Dave Messmore arrived at the Boyle residence, it was Collier's grandmother, that's his father's mother, who answered the door. Collier hovered in the background.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I'm standing there over my grandmother's shoulder. And Dave was saying to my grandmother, well, you know, I'd like to talk to the doctor. And, you know, just kind of curious what, you know, he was just very calm. He's a very calm guy, very collected. I mean, very detective like, you know what I mean? Just looking around, looking at things, taking everything in. Just, I'm going to get to the bottom of this type of thing. And I remember he kind of charms his way in, and my grandmother's like, I'm going to call my son. And she goes and she leaves to go make the phone call in the kitchen. And I knew at that point that that was like my one shot because here I am alone with a police officer.

[Steve Fishman]

Collier made an impression on Dave. This was a kid who dressed in chinos and penny loafers. He had a perfectly coiffed brown bob. He looked like a tiny adult.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He was not like a little 11 or 12 year old you'd normally talk to. He was just very astute, very well spoken. Whenever his grandmother would walk away, he'd say things that make you wonder if there was something wrong.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I say to Dave, I look him dead in the eyes and I say, my mother would never leave me.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He said, my mother would never leave without me or without me knowing where she was going.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

And I think he's looking at me in a very peculiar way, like, who is this kid? He could just tell. I was so adamant.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He said, something happened. And I said, okay, I'll work on that.

[Steve Fishman]

Caillou was surprised. He hadn't expected this cop who suddenly showed up on the doorstep to actually listen to him.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I could just tell when I said to Dave, my mother would never leave me, something has happened to her. He just looked at me like he could tell that I was serious. I remember in that moment that there was this hope.

[Steve Fishman]

Dave did take Collier seriously. Still, he didn't have any clues to follow, just the concerns of an anxious adolescent son. Dave, he decided to talk. It over with his wife, who refers to him as hubby, by the way.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Well, she said, that doesn't sound right. She said, that doesn't sound like a kid that doesn't know where his mother is. And I said, well, so I'm gonna go back and see if I can't talk to him some more.

[Steve Fishman]

So once again, Dave headed to the Boyle residence, where he was met once again by Dr. Jack Boyle's mother, Collier's grandmother.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

And she said, what do you want? And I said, well, I'd kind of like to talk to you and call you again. Well, what, do you come around bothering people like this? I said, I'm not bothering anybody. I just like to solve this and find out where she is. I said, when is Dr. Boyle going to be home? Well, he should be back tonight. This is starting to bother me.

[Steve Fishman]

So later that evening, yet again, Dave drove to the Boyle residence. For those keeping score, that's his third visit of the day.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

On the door when I got there was a letter, and it said, no one in this house has permission to talk to the police, and was signed by an attorney.

[Steve Fishman]

I know a note on the door wasn't going to stop Lieutenant Dave Messmore.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

So when I knocked on the door, the attorney answered the door. And I said, what's going on here? Well, the doctor doesn't really have anything to say. His wife walked out and left. There's nothing he can really tell you. I said, well, I'd like to talk to him. Well, he doesn't want to talk. I said, hmm, hmm.

[Steve Fishman]

That's Dave's characteristically restrained reaction to any new suspicion. So Dave, now suspicious, decided he'd start looking into Dr. Jack Boyle. As it turned out, Dr. Boyle's patients really loved him. They described him as funny, intelligent, gregarious, caring. The kind of doctor who'd go above and beyond, who'd make house calls and stay up all night at the bedside of a sick patient. Even at the police department, Dave discovered his fellow cops were fans.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Some of the guys that worked for me were ex marines. So they said, yeah, we. We know about Dr. Bole. He's an ex navy doctor, retired navy doctor, and flew jets over in Vietnam, and he's just a great guy.

[Steve Fishman]

Plus, one of Jack's friends said he was devastated that Noreen left. She recalled Jack sobbing on the phone to her, she's gone. She's gone. And then Dave learned something that made Noreen's disappearance seem understandable.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

Apparently, there was some talk of divorce, but I didn't know exactly what the circumstances were.

[Steve Fishman]

In fact, Noreen had filed for divorce less than two months before, and it was contentious. There were fancy cars to fight over, a lot of money in the bank, child support, alimony, joint credit cards. Maybe Dave's original hunch had been right. In the midst of a rough separation, with both parties sleeping under the same roof, Noreen just needed a few days to herself. She'd probably return home soon. Still, Dave had doubts. Why was her husband being so evasive? And why did her son insist that something was wrong? Dave decided it was time to get more details from his prime source, the one inside the Boyle household. He phoned the private school that Collier attended and requested that the principal arrange a meeting. This is just what Collier had been hoping for.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I knew it was my chance right there to just get it all out right. I don't know if I'm ever going to get this opportunity again.

[Collier Landry]

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[Narrator]

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[Collier Landry]

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[Steve Fishman]

On January 8, 1990, Collier Landry Boyle sat down with Lieutenant Dave Messmore in an elementary school classroom, the kind with those small chairs. Dave is 6ft tall, but he figured it'd be good to be on the same level as Collier. It'd make him comfortable.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He and I had a lengthy conversation. He described to me what he heard that night that she went missing.

[Steve Fishman]

A little more than a week earlier, December 30, Collier and his mother were sitting at a table having chili for.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

Dinner, and we saw my father's truck come down the driveway with my grandmother inside. And my grandmother came in and my father stayed for a second. He then left around 8:00, 8:30. My mom was like, it's time for bed. I gave My grandmother a hug and a kiss goodnight. And I gave my mom a hug and a kiss goodnight.

[Steve Fishman]

Then Collier headed upstairs to his bedroom. He may have struck people as a miniature adult, but his bedroom was definitely that of a child.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I had little collectible Garfield stuffed plush toys on the dresser. And then I had my Batman clock on the wall because I loved the movie Batman. I wanted to be Batman. Then next to me on the wall, there's a painting of a small little sailboat with a little boy inside. And it says Collier that my mom had a muralist paint on the wall.

[Steve Fishman]

So safe in his bedroom with his Batman clock and his Garfield dolls, Collier fell asleep. And then in the middle of the night, something woke him.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I'm pretty sure I heard a scream. And I was kind of frozen in my bed for a second. I didn't get up. And then I heard this loud thud. Boom. And then I heard this really low muttering and I could see my little sailboat on the wall. Then I looked to the dresser with the little Garfields, and I see the Batman clock up on the wall. And it's like 3:17, 3:18am and then another 30, 60 seconds later, I hear another one of those loud thuds. And I remember thinking something terrible was happening. I then started hearing these footsteps creak slowly down the hall. And I always slept with my door open. So I'm curled up, but I can see out of my peripheral vision the edge of the door into the hallway. And I'm counting the footsteps, and all I want to do is look up, but I'm just staying still. And then the footsteps stop. And I can see two feet in the doorway. I can see them out of my peripheral vision, and I can see my sailboat mural on the wall. And then I can see the Batman clock. And everything inside my body was screaming, don't look up. As I was laying there, the feet still in the doorway, I was telling myself, if I can just make it through this moment, that I'm going to be okay. And as I'm thinking about all that, the feet leave.

[Steve Fishman]

It's the night of Noreen Boyle's disappearance, and Collier is in bed. He's heard strange noises, Strange voices, strange footsteps. But when everything goes quiet, he manages to fall back to sleep. The next morning when he wakes up, the first thing he does is run to his mother's bedroom. She isn't there. She always makes her bed first thing in the morning, but this time the sheets are a mess.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

And I go downstairs and my father is sitting on the couch in the living room, watching television with a towel wrapped around his waist like he had just got done taking a shower. I said to him, where is my mother? And he still was watching television. He didn't answer me. And I said, where is my mother? And he looked up at me so matter of factly, well, mommy took a little vacation, Collier. And I said, well, what? What happened? Well, your mother came down. She was hollering at me, and she got so angry at me, she threw her credit cards at me. And then he said, I saw these headlights come through. I reached for my glasses. Your mother left. She starts walking away. She walks through the kitchen, leaves out the back door, and she goes down the driveway. And I rush to go to the window, and I see her get into that car. And the car drives away. He goes, okay, so we're not going to call the police. We're going to let her come back. We're not going to call the FBI. He leaves. And at that point, my grandmother has gotten up. My grandmother says to me, okay, well, you heard what your father said.

[Steve Fishman]

Collier did hear what his father said, but he'd actually been preparing for a moment just like this. He knew his parents were going through a divorce. There was screaming in the house, tempers flaring, and Collier, like his hero Batman, was always ready for action.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

One of the things that I did is I saved my mother's friend's phone numbers. I wrote them all on a piece of paper, and I stuck them in this little stuffed garfield that I had, this little Santa Claus garfield I stuck inside the hat. My mother had just got a cordless phone. So I grabbed the phone, I run upstairs, I grab the list, I lock myself in my mother's bathroom, and I just start calling everybody on the list, and I start telling them what happened. And I said, my father said not to call the police, but I'm telling you, call the police.

[Steve Fishman]

Noreen's friends did call the police, and that's how word of her disappearance made its way to the Mansfield police department and to Dave Messmore's desk. And now, sitting in the classroom, there was one more thing. Collier wanted to make sure Dave understood. He wanted their meeting kept confidential.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

Dave told me when I was speaking to him that he would keep everything that we said secret because I didn't want to get in trouble, and I wanted to find my mother.

[Steve Fishman]

For his part, as Dave interviewed Collier that day, he thought this kid just might be on to something.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He was beside himself. He didn't cry, but he was emotionally distraught. And he convinced me that There was something wrong. I had never encountered a child that young to be so well spoken. He was not like a little 11 or 12 year old you'd normally talk to. He was just very astute. At that point, I couldn't really pass it off to another detective.

[Steve Fishman]

The interview ended. Kaya went back to class, then home. He knew Dave would be stopping by that night, and he was on edge.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

My grandmother was making dinner. My father comes home and then Dave comes to the door again. I was anxious, right, because I've defied my father and I'm, you know, trying to be in earshot of the door, trying to see what's going on and also trying to see, okay, is he gonna say anything? He doesn't. He doesn't say, oh, I've talked to the kid, or he doesn't say anything, you know what I mean? So I knew that I could trust him. Then I got a partner now. I got somebody who's gonna help me find out what happened to my mother. Me and Dave.

[Steve Fishman]

And so Collier and Dave are now a dynamic duo. The precocious preteen and the mild mannered, middle aged detective. It's like something out of a comic book. Did you think of Batman?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I did think of Batman.

[Steve Fishman]

What did you think?

[Collier Landry Boyle]

I had to find out what happened. But I also was dreading the fact that Batman was an orphan who lost both his parents. You want to be the Dark knight, the detective, but at the same time you don't want to lose your family, right?

[Steve Fishman]

Collier, of course, wasn't quite Batman. More of a Robin, you know, the boy wonder, the junior partner. And in that role, he was determined to help Dave track down his mother.

[Collier Landry Boyle]

That really galvanizes me into doing this like amateur sleuth detective work or whatever, you know, I'm gonna find, start gathering clues. I'm gonna look for anything that I could find that was out of the ordinary.

[Steve Fishman]

And Lieutenant Dave Messmore was determined to hold up his end.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

He was in despair. I just wanted to get it done. And I wanted to be able to tell Collier that we. His mother.

[Steve Fishman]

So now Dave's all in. Jack Boyle won't talk to him. That makes Dave pretty suspicious. And so he decides his next step. Take a closer look at the good doctor.

[Detective Dave Messmore]

The more you talk to other people that are acquainted with him, you find out an awful lot about that person. And in his case, he had a completely different personality. You know, he was always laughing and joking around with people, but that wasn't him. That was a facade.

[Narrator]

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[Steve Fishman]

Finding Mom's Killer is a production of Orbit Media Creator and host Steve Fishman. That's me. Our senior producer is Drew Nellis. Our producer and production coordinator Austin Smith our story editor Emil Klein Fact checked by Ryan Alderman mixing in sound design by Scott Somerville. Our lawyers are at Davis Wright Tremaine from Sony Music Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jonathan Hirsch. Special thanks to Emily Raczek, Steve Ackerman, Kathryn St. Louis, Sammy Allison, Fisher Stevens Rhea Julian, Dan Bopkoff at wme. We'd like to thank Evan Krasek, Marisa Hurwitz and Ben Davis. We want to also thank Carl Hunnel at the Richland Source for the generous use of his podcast studio and a really warm thank you to Collier Landry for sharing his story and for his production assistance.

[Collier Landry]

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