Texas mother’s killer is captured after years on the run. The place did he bury her physique?

This story initially aired on Could 11, 2024.

Nicki Myers-Bates misplaced her mom practically twenty years in the past, when she was simply 7 years outdated, however she says no period of time will heal this wound.

Nicki Bates: You at all times hear that point heals. It will get higher. It will get simpler. That isn’t true. … I believe it is tougher as an grownup and not using a mother than it was … as a child. … You’ve got graduations that she misses. … She missed my wedding ceremony. She has eight grandchildren that she is going to by no means meet.

Now a mom of three herself, Bates continues to be trying to find her mom and combating to carry the person who killed her to justice.

Nicki Bates: Just about once I grew to become a teen and acquired my cellphone, you understand, I learn each article … each information … video. … I seen it, I learn it.

Peter Van Sant: Ryan, even whenever you speak about her at present, you get emotional about it. Why is that?

Ryan Myers: I nonetheless love h —  (cries).

Peter Van Sant: You continue to love her.

Ryan Myers: (shakes his head sure)

Ryan Myers says he and Tammy had been simply youngsters after they first fell in love; he was 20 when he requested her to marry him.

Ryan Myers: The primary 12 months we had been collectively, we had a child … after which … following 12 months had one other child. … Just a few later years later we had Nicki.

Bates says there wasn’t a lot cash to go round, however there was at all times greater than sufficient love. Particularly between mom and daughter.

Nicki Bates: She was very loving … she was made to be a woman mother, although she had two — two boys … she was very girly, lively, enjoyable, energetic.

Ryan Myers labored lengthy hours as a window installer so Tammy Myers may very well be a fulltime mother. Then, destiny dealt the household a devastating blow.

Nicki Bates: My dad was working … on high of a three-story constructing. He acquired electrocuted and fell off and hit the concrete.

Ryan Myers: I fell three flooring, broke my again and legs. And, uh, sadly, the corporate I labored for did not have insurance coverage.

Peter Van Sant: How did you pay for all this?

Ryan Myers: Nicely, I imply, primarily, Tammy needed to work and — and attempt to pay a few of the payments whereas I used to be down.

Nicki Bates: And she or he had no expertise. So, she did what she thought was best and have become a — stripper? Am I allowed to say that?

Peter Van Sant: Certain you may say that.

Nicki Bates: She grew to become … a feminine dancer.

Peter Van Sant: How did your dad take all of this?

Nicki Bates: Um, I do not assume he cherished it. I believe he needed her to search out one other job, however … she was like, it is high-quality, nothing’s taking place right here. I am simply getting the cash.

And so it was, till Tammy Myers met a giant spender named William Greer.

Nicki Bates: He was — so far as I do know, an everyday on the membership. … he … threw some huge cash round …

Peter Van Sant: The place’d he get his cash?

Nicki Bates: He owned a merchandising machine firm. … So, her and my dad break up up and she or he will get with him.

Someday in 2006, Tammy Myers moved about an hour away, to a home in Spring, Texas, with Greer and two sons from his first marriage. Bates and her brothers would spend the weekends there.

Peter Van Sant: Was he variety to you?

Nicki Bates: So far as I bear in mind, sure. Uh, at all times giving us cash, making an attempt to take us on journeys.

Peter Van Sant: Did your mother cease working as a stripper?

Nicki Bates: Sure.

Peter Van Sant: Did you sense … that William Greer was good to your mom?

Nicki Bates: After I first met him, sure.

However issues would flip ugly over time, says Bates. Not lengthy earlier than her mom went lacking, Bates says there have been clear indicators of bodily abuse, which Tammy Myers documented in photographs.

Nicki Bates: She stole his truck and got here all the way in which to Cleveland (Texas) from Spring, and she or he may barely get out of the automotive, and she or he was bleeding, she was bruised.

Bates says her mother tried to cowl it up.

Nicki Bates: She instructed us that it was a mud bike accident, however she had instructed my stepmother that he had hit her with numchucks (sic).

Peter Van Sant: What’s numchuck?

Nicki Bates: You see karate, the um, the wood belongings you swing round.

Peter Van Sant: He hit her with that?

Nicki Bates: Sure.

Bates says Greer got here searching for his truck — and her mom.

Nicki Bates: My dad was like you could get off my property. And he was arguing, saying, effectively, she stole my truck and my dad’s like, I do not care. You want to get off my property.

Nicki Bates: You realize, my dad at all times says … I want I’d’ve simply shot him as a result of your mother would nonetheless be right here.

Bates says she has since discovered that her mom had been warned about Greer’s propensity for violence by somebody who knew him effectively: his ex-wife.

Nicki Bates: She would inform my mother that, you understand, you could depart him, he is harmful.

Sadly, it looks as if Tammy Myers could have been serious about doing simply that however ran out of time.

Peter Van Sant: And is it true that the 2 of you had been … speaking about getting again collectively earlier than she disappeared?

Ryan Myers: Sure, sir.

TAMMY MYERS DISAPPEARS

Then, as Christmas 2006 approached, Tammy Myers mysteriously vanished.

Ryan Myers: I had a missed name from her. And I attempted to name her again and I did not get a response.

Nicki Bates: I bear in mind crying rather a lot. Um, simply being devastated, not just for me, however seeing my dad the way in which — that method was simply devastating.

And that is when this case took the primary of many weird turns. Simply eight days earlier than Tammy Myers was reported lacking, Greer was arrested for public intoxication.

Greer was recorded on dashcam video confessing to 2 sheriff’s deputies that he had shot Tammy Myers.

WILLIAM GREER (dashcam video): The gun simply went off… Oh my God, it is the worst factor I ever did was look in her eyes and watch her die.

Peter Van Sant: Have been you conscious that William Greer had been arrested by sheriff’s deputies at the moment?

Ryan Myers: No, sir.

And within the subsequent unusual twist, Greer was launched.

Ryan Myers: I am nonetheless … misplaced to why when any individual sits there and admitted to one thing, why you’ll simply flip them free so simply?

WILLIAM GREER’S DASHCAM CONFESSION

Again in 2006, Paul Lasco was a deputy for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Workplace. Within the early morning hours of December 22, Lasco and his accomplice acquired a name about suspicious exercise, on a  highway in Cleveland, Texas.

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: There was a automobile, a truck within the ditch right here. And there was no person round it. The truck was operating. The lights had been on. Door was open.

The entire factor was captured on dashcam video. Lasco says that on the time, there was a fenced-in discipline bordered by a big, wooded space.  

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: My accomplice went down … the driveway right here … subsequent to the driveway was like a brush pile that was pulled up.

That is the place Lasco’s accomplice discovered the lacking driver — a extremely intoxicated, William Greer.

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: It appeared that he had been utilizing some form of … medication.

DET. KLOPTON (dashcam video): That is what he acts like, he acts like he is on meth.

He was additionally half bare.

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: He had a — a button-up shirt on and no pants. … No underwear. He was bare from the waist down.

Peter Van Sant: Now you’ve got seen a variety of issues, how unusual was this?

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: This was fairly unusual.

DET. CLOPTON (dashcam video): The place do you assume your sneakers, or your boots are at?

WILLIAM GREER: All them issues … Obtained too muddy and slowed down. Trigger it is a swamp on the market.

Greer’s clothes was by no means recovered, however far more alarming than his bodily state was what Greer freely stated to 2 detectives.

WILLIAM GREER (dashcam video): It was an accident and I really like her with all my coronary heart …

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: He stated that he by accident shot … Tammy … uh within the chest. And that he, he watched her die.

WILLIAM GREER (dashcam video): The gun simply went off … I could not imagine what occurred … Oh, my God, it is the worst factor I ever did was look in her eyes and watch her die.

Greer instructed them the taking pictures had taken place at his dwelling in Spring, about 40 miles southwest of Cleveland — a unique county with a unique sheriff. Again then, Sid Miller was a murder detective within the Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace. He would later be taught that Harris County had been contacted by a Liberty County dispatcher— and requested to ship two deputies to Greer’s dwelling for a welfare examine.

Det. Sid Miller: They peered by way of the home windows, seemed inside the home. … they usually did not see something that was out of the odd, of their opinion.

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: Our dispatch notified us that Harris County went on the market and all the things seemed high-quality.

Lasco says they tried to query Greer some extra, however by then he had sobered up, and stopped speaking.

SHERIFF’S DEPUTY (dashcam video): You confessed to killing her.

WILLIAM GREER: Oh no … I do not keep in mind that accomplice …

With out possible trigger to imagine {that a} homicide had occurred, all Greer may very well be charged with was public intoxication. So, Lasco and his accomplice took him to the Liberty County Jail, the place he was booked, launched on bond the subsequent day — and disappeared. 

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Lasco: It is irritating as a result of we had him. … And … now he is — he is gone.

Bates says nobody realized simply how “gone” Greer was, till days later when Greer’s sons from his first marriage returned from Christmas trip with their mom.

Nicki Bates: And when their mother goes to drop them off, they begin freaking out. We do not need to go dwelling.

The boys had been with their mom for the reason that day Tammy Myers disappeared. Now, 11 days later, they had been telling their mom that the morning she picked them up, they heard their father shoot Tammy Myers. Their mom took the boys straight all the way down to the sheriff’s workplace, for an interview. That is when Detective Miller acquired concerned.

Det. Sid Miller: They indicated that someday the morning of December the nineteenth, between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., they heard Greer and Tammy arguing … one in every of them described, uh, listening to what seemed like Tammy operating down the hallway and being thrown in opposition to the wall. He additionally described listening to a gunshot and he heard William Greer make the remark about, “Are you useless? Are you continue to alive?”

Nicki Bates: At this level, they receive a search warrant, they usually go into his home.

When Miller arrived on the home, he found Greer’s brother-in-law.

Det. Sid Miller: He was really there cleansing out the home.

He instructed the detectives he did not know the home was against the law scene.

Peter Van Sant: And what was he cleansing up?

Det. Sid Miller: He was taking, uh, property out of the home. Uh, we discovered that he had taken some weapons out of there, on the route of Mister Greer.

Nonetheless, says Miller, the home was clearly against the law scene.

Det. Sid Miller: I seen that there was like blood smear, uh, on a few of the partitions. … I walked into the bed room, you understand, you had a mattress … soaked blood on the aspect of the mattress. There have been bullet holes … within the bed room.

Peter Van Sant: And so what William Greer had really instructed these Liberty County deputies turned out to be true?

Det. Sid Miller: It turned — sure.

Yet one more factor you must find out about that evening. Deputies discovered Tammy Myers’ cellphone on the entrance seat of Greer’s truck. They used it to name Tammy’s mom, who Bates says instructed deputies that Greer had been bodily abusing her daughter.

Nicki Bates: The … older I get … the extra offended I get. They — they actually failed, not solely her, however simply everybody on this state of affairs.

Bates says it nonetheless infuriates her that on the evening Greer confessed, a search warrant would have made all of the distinction.

Peter Van Sant: Why did not they search a search warrant to get into the home that night?

Det. Sid Miller: I believe at that individual time, based mostly on what Greer had instructed Liberty County, um, due to his intoxicated state, they — they could not confirm, substantiate whether or not that was credible info.

Miller says that evening there simply wasn’t sufficient possible trigger for a search warrant. And even after looking Greer’s dwelling, they nonetheless could not discover Tammy Myers. 

Det. Sid Miller: We really did a, uh, search of the home … and we had the cadaver canine … do a search of the property, and we did not discover something.

Miller says in addition they searched the woods the place Greer had been arrested. Nonetheless, even with out Tammy Myers’ physique, the Harris County District Lawyer’s Workplace felt that they had sufficient to cost Greer with first-degree homicide. On March 16, 2007, practically three months after Greer’s drunken confession, a grand jury voted to indict him. There was only one drawback, says former Deputy US Marshal Leslie Ramin.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: He was within the wind. … By the point they discovered a homicide had occurred, William Greer was gone.

“OPERATION CATCH A TOE”

Nicki Bates was simply 9 years outdated when she and her brothers shared reminiscences of their mom with the tv present, “America’s Most Needed.”

NICKI MYERS (studying a poem on “America’s Most Needed”): Our beloved Tammy, a daughter taken, lives shaken …

Bates hoped that viewers may acknowledge the person who had allegedly killed her mom after which disappeared: William Greer.

Peter Van Sant: Did it provide you with some hope?

Nicki Bates: It did.

Det. Sid Miller: As soon as we acquired him on “America’s Most Needed,” we began getting suggestions.

Miller says that after the primary point out of Greer on the present, he and his accomplice had been lastly starting to be taught in regards to the fugitive’s first few days on the run.

Det. Sid Miller: The day after Greer … acquired out of jail … he went to his sister’s home … and principally stated that he had completed one thing unhealthy. … and he needed to vary his life and he was leaving city. So, the sister had given him some cash for that function.

From there, Greer had gone to Savannah, Georgia, to see his half-brother, Daniel Dobson. So, Miller and his accomplice did the identical.

Dobson’s interview with detectives was recorded:

DANIEL DOBSON (interview with detectives):  He simply stated that he hit her with the gun, and it went off … He stated she died in his arms, and … he freaked out, went out and buried her.

Det. Sid Miller: And buried her to the place no person would discover her.

Peter Van Sant: That is the phrase he used, the place no person would discover —

Det. Sid Miller: — the place no person would discover her.

DANIEL DOBSON (interview with detectives):  When he lastly admitted what he did, I did all the things I may to get him off this property that day.

Det. Sid Miller: He had taken Greer to … a truck cease … and simply dropped him off there, and he hadn’t seen him since.

In July 2007, Greer had been on the run for six months, when he acquired a job as a cook dinner at a deli in New Orleans, working alongside John Morales.

John Morales: He instructed me that his identify was Billy. … once I tried to ask him what his final identify was, he would not inform me what his final identify was.

Morales says he and the person he knew as Billy acquired alongside so effectively they determined to room collectively. And Billy started to open up about his previous.

John Morales: Billy instructed me that he had youngsters. He instructed me that he, that he had an ex-wife … and that his ex-wife wasn’t permitting him to see the children and that, and that is why he was touring.

Morales says it wasn’t lengthy earlier than his new roommate started to drink closely and have become progressively stranger.

John Morales: He would begin crying and say that he did not need to wind up in hell.

Much more disturbing says Morales, had been Greer’s plans for the longer term.

John Morales: He, uh, would say that he needed to stay off grid … that he needed to um discover one other spouse, you understand, in some unspecified time in the future and, and have extra youngsters. … after which he would take the downward spiral once more…  say if I ever discover out she’s dishonest on me, I will kill her.

Then, says Morales, Greer started utilizing medication. The boys parted methods and Morales moved to Florida. Weeks later, a good friend from the deli known as to say that the person they knew as “Billy” had simply been featured on “America’s Most Needed.” Morales was one in every of 5 tipsters who known as police. However by the point detectives arrived to analyze, Greer was gone.

Left behind was his signature cowboy hat — a doable taunt geared toward his pursuers. It will take two extra months earlier than there was one other credible tip. This time from Georgetown, Kentucky, the place Greer had discovered God.

Pastor Connie Jackson-Osborne: He simply got here into the service one Sunday morning.

Pastor Connie Jackson-Osborne of the Victory Tabernacle Church says she knew Greer as “Billy Leslie.” He stated he was new to the realm and was searching for handyman work. He supplied to assist across the church.

Pastor Connie Jackson-Osborne: He appeared very good, very personable. He acquired proper in with totally different ones within the congregation, participated.

“Billy” even requested to be baptized. However when he discovered that his {photograph} can be taken for posterity, Pastor Connie says he practically backed out. However Greer modified his thoughts and allowed a photograph to be taken of his baptism on Aug. 26, 2007.

One month later, a member of the congregation would see the now baptized “Billy” on “America’s Most Needed.”

Peter Van Sant: And if I’ll quote one little passage from the Bible to you as a Pastor, “Even Devil disguises himself as an angel of sunshine.”

Pastor Connie Jackson-Osborne: Sure, he does and … It was humorous once I came upon he was needed, ‘trigger he was residing proper throughout the road from the police station.

Hiding in plain sight. However by the point investigators arrived, Greer had taken off once more.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: This man actually thought that he may victimize not solely Tammy, however all people else that he encountered whereas he was on the run, and form of simply thumbing his nostril in our face.

Greater than three years had passed by with no credible leads, when Cameron Welch – a deputy Marshal with the Southern District of Texas U.S. Marshals Service — joined the case. Welch adopted up outdated leads, hoping for brand new info, dug deeper into Greer’s previous, and located one more ex-wife, who instructed detectives that Greer had abused her as effectively.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: He was in a position to, um, persuade these girls … that he was only a nice man … and he would use them for all the things that — that he wanted, after which he would transfer on to the subsequent one.

Welch spent two years chasing down new leads, however Greer was nowhere to be discovered.

Peter Van Sant: So the place do you go from there?

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: Again to sq. one. Simply maintaining the strain.

In 2012, Welch was assigned to a different case. Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin took over the now 5-year-long hunt for Greer — and named it “Operation Catch a Toe.”

Peter Van Sant: And why’d you identify it that?

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: William Greer was lacking a toe.

Peter Van Sant: And the way’d he lose that?

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: I believe it was a bicycling accident when he was youthful.

Peter Van Sant (taking a look at a photograph of Greer’s foot): That is the — that is the well-known lacking toe.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: It is the well-known lacking toe.

Peter Van Sant: Wow.

The Marshals believed that distinctive characteristic would finally tip individuals off to Greer’s true id.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: If in case you have a assassin in your home and … this assassin is lacking a toe … they’ll simply put two and two collectively.

A FUGITIVE’S TRAIL LEADS U.S. MARSHALS TO MEXICO

In late 2012, when Deputy U.S. Marshal Leslie Ramin took over the hunt for William Greer, he studied the case and investigated new leads with no luck. Then, in 2016, Ramin and his now affiliate investigator, Deputy Josh Wright, returned to the final place Greer had been seen. This time, the TV present “Crime Watch Every day” was serving to hold the warmth on the fugitive.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: We spent a while in Kentucky touring, interviewing individuals following up on leads. … I just about was positive that he was utilizing the railways to maneuver round, hopping trains. And the final … good strong supply, put him on a prepare going southbound. … And I stated, “this man’s in Mexico.”

Ramin requested to have the outlaw positioned on the U.S. Marshal’s 15 Most Needed listing, which alerts regulation enforcement companies worldwide to be looking out for Greer. A $25,000 reward was additionally supplied for his arrest.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: And cash helps loosen lips.

And it wasn’t lengthy earlier than that reward — and Ramin’s instincts — gave the impression to be paying off.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: We obtained info from a … dependable supply that William Greer had arrange a brand new life south of the border in Mexico.

The deputies wouldn’t inform “48 Hours” who that dependable supply was, however somebody in Mexico had known as in a tip, telling investigators that they knew the place Greer was hiding out.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: We investigated a whole lot of suggestions over the course of this fugitive investigation. And so, we knew that it needed to be verified.

However U.S. Marshals do not have jurisdiction in Mexico, so “Operation Catch a Toe” was now within the arms of Mexican authorities, who checked out the tip. Whereas the Marshal’s workplace was stored knowledgeable at each flip, Mexican police had been now surveilling the person all of them hoped was William Greer.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: I can inform you … I didn’t sleep. Josh and I had been anxiously awaiting … to search out out what the outcomes had been.

The subsequent morning, they acquired the affirmation they hoped for. The person noticed in Mexico was certainly William Greer. Now, he needed to be captured.

Mexican authorities discovered that Greer was residing virtually off the grid, down a mud highway, within the tiny southern city of Taxco. He had a spouse and two younger youngsters.

Paulina Gomez: Individuals inform me he was very reserved. He was a really good, very well mannered, hardworking man, however very reserved.

Paulina Gomez, a producer based mostly in Mexico Metropolis lately traveled to Taxco for “48 Hours,” and discovered that Greer had probably been in Mexico for about six to seven years. He met his new spouse whereas residing within the Mexican state of Chiapas. By the point they moved to Taxco, that they had an toddler daughter and toddler son named William.

Peter Van Sant: He is the organic father?

Paulina Gomez: Sure. Of those two youngsters.

By 2017, locals say Greer had been residing in Taxco for about three years.

Tilo Perez: We known as him “El Gringo.”

Paulina Gomez: You did not know his identify?

Tilo Perez: No.

Tilo Perez lived subsequent door to the fugitive and says he was a great neighbor.

Tilo Perez: He was calm, he … did not mess with anybody.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: We discovered that he had a carpentry firm. He was constructing furnishings, and he employed a pair workers.

Greer had been a grasp of avoiding arrest, however on the morning of Nov. 28, 2017, his days on the run lastly got here to an finish when Greer was taken unexpectedly by a swarm of undercover police.

U.S MARSHALS: (to reporters): U.S. Marshals Service wish to announce the arrest of William Joseph Greer.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: He fully denied that it was him. I simply want I may have been there to see his face after they eliminated his shoe.

Peter Van Sant: They did take away the shoe?

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: Oh yeah.

Peter Van Sant: And what did they see?

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: The lacking toe.

Peter Van Sant: Operation Catch a Toe —

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: Appropriate (laughs).

Peter Van Sant: — had lastly succeeded.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: That is proper.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: It was a great feeling.

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: And I wasn’t crying. He was crying (laughs). … We each teared up a bit of bit.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: I may need teared up.

Nicki Bates was 18 years outdated when she acquired the information that her mom’s killer had lastly been captured.

Nicki Bates: I simply cried. I simply bear in mind crying as a result of it was not anticipated. It was simply over — an amazing feeling.

Greer was promptly flown to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the place he was arrested on U.S. soil.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright (exhibiting handcuffs) These had been {the handcuffs} used on William Greer.

Peter Van Sant: And the way satisfying was that?

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: Extraordinarily satisfying.

Leslie Ramin says Greer really acknowledged him from all of the TV protection.

Deputy Marshal Leslie Ramin: He noticed me and stated, hey, “I do know who you might be. I am your largest fan” (laughs).

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: He was precisely how I imagined he’d be, very boastful, very keen to inform us how he alluded us.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: And that is actually what we had been focused on. As fugitive investigators, we needed to know the way, how did he get away for therefore lengthy, and the way did he get to Mexico?

The deputy Marshals say they at all times suspected that Greer had been getting round on 18-wheelers and trains.

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: Greer confirmed that he did find yourself taking a prepare from Kentucky and he headed west, till he discovered one other prepare heading south, and that is how he ended up crossing into Mexico.

Ramin and Wright delivered Greer to the Sheriff’s workplace, the place Sid Miller, now a Sergeant Investigator, tried to interrogate him.

SGT. SID MILLER (interrogation): We’re looking for Tammy, you understand. … that is actually why you are right here, OK?

Miller tried to push Greer to inform him the place he had buried Tammy Myers.

SGT. SID MILLER (interrogation):  I hoped I — I might have the ability to name the household tonight and provides them the excellent news…

Greer recommended that he would cooperate.

WILLIAM GREER (interrogation): We’re gonna get this completed, man. Uh, I am not right here to mess around.

As an alternative, Greer requested for an lawyer and shut down the interview.

WILLIAM GREER (interrogation): Now, whether or not you guys are keen to work with me or not, that is but to be seen. However I am right here to work with you guys. … However I would like to speak to a lawyer.

With Greer now behind bars, it was now as much as the Harris County District Lawyer’s Workplace to attempt the case.

Nicki Bates: I used to be like, OK, we’re lastly going to have some closure.

However what ended up taking place surprised nearly everybody.

A DAUGHTER’S DETERMINATION

It was now 2023, practically six years since William Greer had been captured, and the now 58-year-old was nonetheless sitting on this jail awaiting trial. COVID and the authorized course of had slowed the proceedings to a crawl. Painful says Bates, who longed for justice, and at last finding her mom’s lacking stays.

Nicki Bates: Not too long ago, across the trial date … I’d have desires that … I used to be digging and I’d simply discover her in probably the most random locations.” 

Sid Miller was ready to testify at trial.

Peter Van Sant: What is the strongest proof you’ve got in opposition to William Greer?

Sgt. Sid Miller: The 2 youngsters. … listening to what they heard.

Each of Greer’s sons, who imagine they heard their father shoot and kill Tammy Myers, had been on the witness listing. And whereas Greer’s brother was now deceased, the prosecution had that recording of what he instructed detectives again in 2007.

DANIEL DOBSON (recording): He simply stated that he hit her with the gun, and it went off.

After which after all, there was Greer’s dashcam confession.

WILLIAM GREEER (dashcam): Oh my God. It is the worst factor I ever did was look in her eyes and watch her die.

Sgt. Sid Miller: Coupled with clearly the proof that we discovered on the home … the blood, the … bullets … looks as if a powerful case to me.

However Bates says the prosecution was nervous. Anxious that they had been lacking a essential piece of proof: Tammy Myers’ physique. Solely days earlier than trial, Bates says she and her household had been contacted by Assistant D.A. Stephany Abner a couple of potential plea deal to keep away from a trial.

Nicki Bates: She stated, would you all take into account manslaughter if he tells you the place she’s at? And I stated, you understand what, sure, we’ll. We simply need to know the place our mother’s at. … We would like a resting place the place we are able to go to, the place our kids can go to. … So, we took the deal as a result of in addition they made it seem to be there was not one other alternative, that he would most likely stroll free if we went to trial.

As a situation of the deal, Greer was now required to point out detectives the place he had buried Tammy Myers’ physique.

Sgt. Sid Miller: I needed to … examine him out of the jail. … I had … our warrant staff with us as a result of … he was such a … flight danger.

Bates says when she heard the place all of them ended up, she was crushed. They had been trying to find her mom not removed from the place Greer first confessed to killing her, and method too near the house Bates grew up in.

Nicki Bates: He walked up and down, um, the highway in cuffs proper subsequent to my dad’s home.

That went on for 3 days, says Miller. Nothing was discovered. Investigators then known as off the search. Greer nonetheless acquired his deal.

Nicki Bates: We had been instructed he’ll get his deal provided that he tells us the place he buried her. … I believe it is bull crap. … and I believe that he simply, as soon as once more, is getting off for murdering her.

The District Lawyer’s workplace declined “48 Hours”‘ requests for an interview however gave us this assertion: “We imagine Greer was performing in good religion and tried to steer regulation enforcement … to her physique. A lot time has handed, and the terrain has modified, however we imagine he tried.” 

On Jan. 22, 2024, Greer appeared in courtroom for sentencing. It had been 17 years since Bates laid eyes on him.

Nicki Bates: You realize, everybody stored telling me he isn’t going to even take a look at you. … He’ll be ashamed. … And … he walked into courtroom, and he stared proper at us.

Peter Van Sant: Have been you staring again?

Nicki Bates: Sure.

Peter Van Sant: Did you make eye contact with him?

Nicki Bates: Sure. … I used to be simply making an attempt to let him know like, we aren’t giving up. We aren’t backing down. We aren’t terrified of him.

Pissed off and offended, Bates gave a sufferer influence assertion on behalf of her household.

NICKI BATES (addressing Greer in courtroom): She trusted you. We trusted you. … We had to have a look at the person who murdered our mother, stroll round our neighborhood, making an attempt to recollect the place he put her physique. How do you not bear in mind? How has that not eaten at you day by day since?

Nicki Bates: I do not know what I used to be anticipating. Possibly him to speak again. I do not know, however I finished, and I stated, “do you? Do you bear in mind?” And he simply stared at me.

NICKI BATES (addressing Greer in courtroom): You say you are a modified man, that you are a Christian, and if that is the case, you may proceed to speak and assist us attempt to discover her. You need forgiveness? That is what I would like. I have to know, and I would like to search out her.” 

Greer’s sentence for killing Tammy Myers and fleeing is 10 years.

With time served, he can be free in three years; even perhaps sooner.

Nicki Bates: Ten years for taking somebody’s life away after which simply disposing of them like rubbish. That is not sufficient.

Leslie Ramin:  For those who ask me, he ought to be in jail endlessly.

Ramin, now retired, says Greer higher behave.

Leslie Ramin: If he does something, I will come again out of retirement. I will discover him once more.

Peter Van Sant: Are you nervous that if he will get out and it may very well be as we’re talking now in as little as three years, there could also be extra victims?

Deputy Marshal Josh Wright: I am involved about that.

Peter Van Sant: Are you as effectively, Cameron?

Deputy Marshal Cameron Welch: Sure, sir.

THE SEARCH FOR TAMMY MYERS CONTINUES

In the meantime, the seek for Tammy Myers continues with out regulation enforcement.

Texas EquuSearch is a nonprofit, volunteer, search and restoration group, that provides their providers to regulation enforcement and households totally free.

Nicki Bates: Seeing all of the volunteers out right here … I do not know any of them, they usually have stored me up to date and simply, you understand, made me really feel so cherished.

Nicki Bates: They prayed over us.

They’ve dedicated to serving to a daughter on a mission.

Nicki Bates: However being out right here, so near dwelling and probably near discovering her is a bit of overwhelming.

It will not be simple, says canine handler Brenda Peak.

Peter Van Sant: How massive an space are you looking at present?

Brenda Peak: Whole, about 4 acres.

Peak says even extremely skilled canine may have hassle detecting the scent of bones buried practically twenty years in the past.

Brenda Peak: Lots of people will not take this activity as a result of it’s, it is a troublesome one, it is difficult. 

On today in February 2024, there have been three cadaver canine with handlers and greater than 30 volunteers protecting the 4 acres, and a spot that Bates and her dad requested to be searched

Nicki Bates: It takes rather a lot to not let it devour me. I attempt to concentrate on my youngsters and my husband, however they may inform you I am very decided    … if I simply have free time at dwelling, I am on my pc, taking a look at maps, taking a look at … outdated, you understand, areas, what they seemed like then, what they seem like now.

After trying to find about 5 hours, the staff known as it quits for the day. However there was a glimmer of hope. All three canines had reacted to one thing in the identical space.

Nicki Bates: They assume that it is doable that he drove into this space … and that perhaps he buried her someplace over right here since there are, all three canine have picked up on this space.

However Texas Equusearch did not have the proper instruments to dig correctly, so that they dedicated to making an attempt once more. Till then, Bates can be out looking on her personal.

Peter Van Sant: Do you imagine she is going to at some point be discovered?

Nicki Bates: I am unsure. … I’m making an attempt to remain hopeful, however … between climate and animals and — if he is telling the reality or not, that it is — you understand, it may very well be onerous.

Ryan Myers: I am hoping we are able to — we are able to put this to relaxation and — and provides Tammy a spot and get these youngsters some closure of their life, someplace they will pay their respects.

Nicki Bates: My youngsters are, they’re younger, however they’re totally conscious of what is taking place. And … they simply need so badly for her to be discovered. So, I am simply making an attempt to remain eager for myself, but in addition for my youngsters and, you understand, simply hold wanting ‘trigger I do not need to hand over.

Instantly after being sentenced, Greer grew to become eligible for parole. It was denied.

His subsequent parole overview is in 2026.

“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST

Peter Van Sant and “48 Hours” producer Judy Rybak take you behind the scenes as they talk about the many years lengthy manhunt for William Greer. Hear about what it was like interviewing U.S. Marshals and their intelligent identify for his or her pursuit.

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Produced by Judy Rybak. Michelle Sigona and Jenna Jackson are the event producers. Anthony Venditti is the content material analysis supervisor. Doreen Schechter is the producer-editor. Emily Wichick Hourihane is the sector producer. Jud Johnston and Ken Blum  are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is he govt story editor. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.