Mary Lou’s murder on The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2 episode 6- A detailed case overview

The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2 returns to a 1997 Detroit double homicide that stunned a neighborhood near Tiger Stadium. On December 23, 1997, Mary Lou Drury, 57, and her mother, Dorothy Gilbert, 75, were found in the basement of their Elm Street home, bound with duct tape and suffocated.

There were no clear signs of forced entry. Police work quickly focused on tenants who lived upstairs and sometimes helped around the property.

As the episode title Nightmare Before Christmas suggests, the timeline sits on the eve of the holiday. The victims reportedly owned several rentals on Elm Street, which drew steady contact with renters and handymen. The case moved fast from discovery to arrests, and a picture formed of a robbery that turned deadly.

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Early facts in The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2

case

Initial accounts stated that Drury’s husband discovered a blood trail and then the bodies shortly after 1:15 pm on December 23, 1997. Each victim had a plastic bag placed over the head and extensive duct tape on the face and bindings on the wrists and ankles. Investigators noted the home’s front door unlocked and an open, blood-marked jewelry box in a bedroom. Cash, credit cards, and two firearms were missing.

Police respond to an Elm Street residence on 12/23/1997 after a reported double homicide. (Image via Unsplash)

According to Detroit Free Press coverage at the time, two building tenants, a 43-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, were held for arraignment and had been facing eviction after alleged theft complaints. The paper also reported that one tenant had acted as caretaker for the family.

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Suspects, arrests, and motive in The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2

Attention centered on Pamela Vannoy and Charles Vaughn, who lived upstairs and did odd jobs, including care for Gilbert, who needed oxygen. Both were arrested the next day at a Dearborn motel, where police recovered Drury’s credit cards and the two missing guns.

An acquaintance described a brief midday visit by the pair with plastic bags in hand and stated Vaughn displayed a handgun, reportedly telling her she had not seen them since the previous day. These details formed part of a robbery narrative that, prosecutors later argued, escalated to violence after an eviction dispute and accusations of stealing.

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Evidence and trial outcomes in The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2

Court records recount cut oxygen tubing, a used roll of duct tape, drag marks, and blunt force injuries consistent with pistol-whipping in Drury’s case. Statements attributed to Vannoy placed the pair in the flat after Gerald Drury left for work around 10:00 am, with both reportedly agreeing to a theft plan.

Bags were fetched from the kitchen, the women were restrained, and valuables were taken while the victims were still moving. A trail of blood led down the stairs to where both bodies were hidden. Trials were joined with separate juries.

Juries returned felony murder verdicts that were later upheld on appeal. (Image via Pexels)

Each defendant was convicted of two counts of first-degree felony murder and received life without parole. According to the Michigan Court of Appeals’ unpublished opinions issued on January 26, 2001, the evidence supported intent either as principal or as aider and abettor, including acts that allegedly cut off the victims’ air supply with knowledge of the likely result.

A later federal habeas ruling reviewed the record and left the convictions intact, summarizing testimony about the timeline, stolen items, recovery of property, and medical findings that both deaths resulted from asphyxia, per the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

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New episodes of The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2 air on Investigation Discovery on Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT.

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