The clues, the lovers triangle, cash and a bearded laid. It looked like a woman in a 19ing beard. Its a mystery with so many headsnapping turns it took two trials. You wait 18 years for justice only to have the carpet pulled out from under you. To uncover the truth. We have a verdict but was it the truth . An adulterer say person who has done evil things, but that does not make him a murderer. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Tonight Dennis Murphy with the comic book murder, volume 2. He looked at me and said hey, lets go down to the comic bookstore. We pulled out of the party and the police knew us. I knew immediately, the crime scene tape was there and they said you cant go through. Were investigating a homicide. Were investigating the comic bookstore. The comic bookstore was a mom and pop shop in a strip mall in detroit. Spidey, hulk, xmen, but in the Storage Space in the back was an ugly reality. One of the shop owners, the woman was on the floor with a life draining out of her. Customers had found her. Most of the time we were there on friday nights. It was july of 1990 a friday the 13th when tom and lenora ward stopped by the comic bookshop before going out to dinner. They liked buying from the woman there, barb. She knew our name. Immediately when we would walk in she would light up with a smile. Many times she would actually come around the counter to greet us. But not on this summer evening. It was just after 6 00. Tom and lenora had picked out a comic, but there was no one behind the counter to take their money. Not barb or her husband michael, the coowner. It wasnt uncommon that someone wouldnt be at the cash register, but this was a longer than normal time so we thought we would stick around just to make sure because we liked her. Some teenage customers were also in the shop browsing and they, too, were itchy to pay and go. They were the first ones to peek into the back room and see barb sprawl. Cried out, theres somebody back here and at that time tom and i rushed to the back storage area and found barb on the floor. We thought she perhaps had fallen backwards and hit her head. I noticed that she was blue around her mouth. Her pupils were dilated and big, and, um, i could not find a pulse. Lenora, a customer happened to be a nurse and took charge. She noticed only a small amount of blood and concluded that barb had suv aired heart attack or seizure and she told her husband to call 911 while she began administering cpr. I had never done cpr on someone they knew and loved and i thought please, god, let this be okay. Shes a mother. As the ambulance rushed barb to the hospital, lenora ward thought shed done her professional best and she wasnt at all sure her prayers would be answered. I knew she was medically in dire straits. The woman rushed into the emergency room was Barbara George, she was an enthusiastic softball and volley ballplayer. They were pumping the womans chest in rapid bursts. One e. R. Nurse was kris kehoe. After 15 minutes it was all over. A doctor pronounced barb george, the mother of two dead. It was up to nurse kehoe to clean up the body for the pham willy to view. Thats when she saw it. When we were straightening up her hair we noticed blood on the top of her head. I noticed there was a small hole. My first thought as a nurse was that it had to be a bullet hole there. Imagine that, Barbara George, the nice woman behind the counter, shot. Shot in the head and it couldnt happen to such a good person. Back at the comic bookshop, friends and family showed up for her United States had, the singing of happy birthday and all of the superheroes from his beloved marvel and action comics looking on. All those guests now stunned to find the party turned into a crime scene. And barb, the hostess, was dead. When we return, what could be two key clues to solving the mystery. Right after the murder witnesses reported seeing a speeding car, and a man waiting outside the comic bookshop. And he had on a dark outfit for that time of the year. A fishermans cap, is how i would describe it. When the comic book murder volume 2 continues. Writing, nursing, and teaching it took to earn it. So we give you the power to keep as much of your hardearned money as possible. Our customized interview covers everything from a Service Members deployment, to a Students Loan interest, right down to a teachers crayons. Youve worked hard to earn your money. Were here to help you keep it. Turbotax the power to keep whats yours. Try it free at turbotax. Com. sighs this is too good to be true. Hi. John stamos. Enchante this is too good to be true. Dannon oikos nonfat yogurt. Delicious yet healthy. Sounds too good to be true. There are things that are too good to be true. 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But ill tell you what impresses me. A talking train. This ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what its carrying, while using less fuel. Delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. After all, whats the point of talking if you dont have something important to say . Their hole in the wall shop, comics world, had been barb and Michael Georges just go for it passion. He collected thousands of comics over the years and he liked superheroes adventures way more than he liked selling insurance, so with help from barbs parents they took the jump and opened their little shop ina Clinton Township, michigan strip mall in the winter of 1988. Joe kowynia is barbs brother. He removes dents and dings from cars, but back in 1990 he was the kid brother who looked up to his sister, admired her on the softball field where she was a standout. I used to go to her games. I remember going to the tournaments and she was the typical sister. He was because up in a traditional polish catholic family and when she found her man, Michael George, marriage was the principal of her life. Was she a happy bride . Very happy. She couldnt wait. And when children came along, two girl, Barbara George seemed complete. Her kids were a prime joy, and i think that was everything to her. The night of friday the 13th brother joe and his then girlfriend now mary shamo drove over to the comic shop for what was to be a celebration. Barbs Surprise Birthday Party in the store for michael. He was turning 30. Michaels mother was going keep the two kids at her house for the weekend while barb and michael took off after the party for a cozy couple of days at a lodge. So that would have been a friday night and it was going to be a romantic weekend . Right. A weekend not meant to be because by the time joe and mary got to the comic bookstore before 9 00, was there confusion, cop cars. We pulled up and joe rolled down the window and the Police Stopped us and they said you cant go through. Were investigating a homicide. Somebody was killed. I immediately thought mike because i thought no one hated my sister. Absolutely nobody. But the victim wasnt mike. It was joes sister and it was up to detective Sergeant Donald steckman to make sense of the senseless. Hed been the investigator on duty when the hospital called that theyd had a woman come in with a single gunshot to the head. Now we had a fullblown homicide. You know its going to be a long night. Yes. As the Detectives Team scoured the strip mall dumpsters for maybe a tossed weapon, clothing, something, he turned over the few facts he had so far. A woman with children gunned down execution style in the back of the little comic bookstore, Police Interviewed merchants and customers at the mall, had anyone seen anything out of the ordinary . It turned out tom and lenora ward did, the couple who had given barb first aid, and speeding car in front of the comic bookshop. And we both thought to ourselves, were the cars going too fast . Later, they wondered if that was the getaway car, but another observation tugged at them, who was the guy lurking outside the comic bookshop . He had on a dark outfit for that time of the year, a greek fishermans cap is how i would describe it. Another man would say he saw a different suspicious character, someone wearing what appeared to be a fake beard, possibly a bearded lady. The shop was small, deeper than it was wide. Aisles and bins filled with comic books out front by the register and a door to the back storage room. Barbara george had been found just inside the back room. On the far wall was a locked door that led to the alley in the rear. Now were inside the comics corner. Crime scene techs began videotaping the crime scene. The cash register. There was 750 still in the cash register, untouched. In a glass case just behind the till, the collectible vintsage comics and they hadnt been ransacked. Some bin his been toppled over, but the emts might have done that as they ran to assist barb george as she lay on the floor. More than 100 was in her pocket and the good jewelry wasnt taken. Later the medical examiner would determine it the shop owner had been shot from above, indicating shed been crouching. Another bullet had been fired first, police believed. It missed and went through a swimsuit calendar on the wall and into the empty shop on the other side of the sheet rock. If it was a robbery at the comic bookstore, it was an unusual one. Just after 8 00, detective steckman was told that the husband of the victim had just arrived. He identified himself and he said whats going on . We said well, theres been an incident here and were sorry to tell you, but your wife has been injured. Injured, not dead. We never told him what happened to her. He doesnt know what happened to his wife. To our knowledge we had no idea what was going on. You have to go over to the hospital because your wife is seriously injured. At the hospital, Michael George was informed that his wife had died of a gun shot wound to the head. A few minutes later, mary and his brotherinlaw joe came rushing in. The girlfriend was undone by the awful news. Im blown away in shock. I wasnt even related to her, and i was devastated and i was crying and i was upset. But there was someone that didnt seem as upset as mary was, the new widower, Michael George. Why was she so suspicious of the comic bookman . Coming up, an untroubled husband with a very troubled marriage. We started receiving phone calls. We might want to look at his relationship with his employee renee. Real cozy. You checked it out . Yes. When dateline continues. But dont worry, hell find someone else. Whos that lady . Whos that lady . 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I need, no, i have the right to be unlimited. Only sprint offers truly unlimited data. For iphone 5. Only swe perfected the pastrami sandwich [ male announcer ] now at your neighborhood subway the big hot pastrami melt. Filled with hot, juicy pastrami, pickles, yellow mustard and bubbly melted cheese. All piledhigh on our signature freshly baked bread. Made hot, toasty and just for you. And dont be afraid to put your spin on this deli style deliciousity add your favorite ingredients, like spicy jalapenos or crisp green peppers. Get to your local subway and taste some perfect pastrami today subway. Eat fresh. Barbara george had been shot to death in the storage room of the comic bookshop she owned with her husband michael. Six hours after her murder Michael George had returned from the hospital to show the chief detective sergeant steckman around what was now a crime scene. Where bash was shot was where a robbery must have happened. He noticed two important white boxes were gone. As soon as he walked into the back room he said there were two cardboard boxes full of very expensive comic books missing. So hes saying i had expensive stuff. Two boxes of comic books and theyre gone. Michael george made a list of stolen comics and estimated their value at 12,600 and he later filed claims for missing spiderman, Green Lantern and ironman. Hes talking about his robbery. His whole scenario was it had to be robbery. Michael george told the detective he had no idea what happened to his wife. Hed last seen her a little after 4 00 when she relieved him behind the counter. He said he took their two kids over to his moms and remained there napping on his couch until 8 00 when he returned to the domecq bookstore. Detective steckman asked him questions the cop would when a wife was murdered. Were there any girlfriends . No. Any problems with your marriage . No. Everything was fine. At the funeral days later mary shamo, the girlfriend of barbs brother couldnt make out what he was feeling because his ice were concealed behind dark, dark sunglasses. Like something a blind person would wear. Something youd see Stevie Wonder wear and mary sensed that michael was acting strange, only increased after a visit to the trailer park home where Michael George and barbara had lived. She and joe, barbs brother had gone over to give michael some support during tough days. He comes in and her vacuum is sitting there and he grabs the vacuum and embraces the vacuum like he showed more emotion with this vacuum than he did the whole time. Whats he saying to the vacuum . Oh, this was barbs vacuum and oh, my gosh, shes never going to use this vacuum again and he would go to a blender and shes never going to be in the kitchen again. Are you thinking whats up with this guy . Here you are grieving over these appliances there was no tears in his eyes and nothing going on. It was all an act. The police, meanwhile, were chasing down bank records, insurance policies looking for leads on the speeding car, the man in the greek fishermans cap, the socalled bearded lady and whether thisis could have bn a botched robbery after all. They were also getting a crash course on the value of vintage comics. Unhappily for them, the case detectives hadnt found the gun and hoped for forensics like a bloody print just werent there, but the investigators were getting calls on the q. T. About Michael George maybe having a girlfriend. When did you learn about a shop assistant named renee. That was two days later. We start red seefing phone calls from people advising us that we might want to look at his relationship with his employee named renee. A little cozy. Check it out. It was barb george who befriended reneea the their Childrens School and brought her to work at the comic bookstore. Renee had five children and needed the money. Her floundering marriage had ended in divorce just three weeks before barbs murder. Not long after they buried barbara, mary shamo remembers dropping in unexpectedly at the comic bookshop along with her boyfriend joe and the pair got a shockeroo. They saw them canned onneling. Their arms were crossed over to each other and when you lose someone in your life and you look around at the world like whats going on . Why does the world keep moving when i just lost someone so important and here this man is and hes as happy as a clam. You wouldnt think that he had any care in the world the way he was carrying on with her. Michael and renee would set up a new home together with the help of 130,000 Life Insurance payout on barb that he received as beneficiary. Is he becoming what cops call a person of interest . Yes. At that point he was. At that point he had to be. He talked to the police casually at the store that night and then in a more formal interview with the Police Station six days later, but there would be no followups. According to detective steckman, Michael George said he would hire an attorney. Lawyer up. Hed stop talking. Exactly. This is a big, unsolved case . Yes. Yes. How much frustration is building with the family . What can you do . Cant take you can take the law into your own hands, but whats going to happen with that . Did you ever talk about it . I felt it. There was times i felt, you know, that i should do something, but, you know, im a catholic. I couldnt live with it. In the comics, superheroes are ageless, but the comic bookshop in the clinton strip mall wasnt. The shop owner and his new wife renee had moved from town. They settled some 375 miles southeast of detroit in windberg, pa, population 4,000. An old coal mining town. On the main drag there, the georges had opened their new shop, comics world. With his two kids and renees five being raised together in their spacious new home they found friends among the other parents involved in their kids sports teams. Michael coached the basketball game. He never missed a game. Tremendous family man. Respected business person in the community. Jeff had the Electrical Supply shop th