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Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

30 Years After Laralee Spear’s Unsolved Murder A $50,000 Reward Offered

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4696 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On April 25, 1994, 15-year-old Laralee Spear was abducted, shot, and killed after she stepped off her school bus outside DeLand, FL. Her murder has never been solved. A $50,000 reward is available for the tip that leads detectives to the killer.

Guest Bio and Links:

Detective Cordell LeMay with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, has 14 years of experience, including 11 as a detective. He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a professional certificate in profiling from the University of Central Florida. 

In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, sits down for a part two series with Detective Cordell Lemay to discuss the unsolved case of Laralee Spear, a 15-year-old high school student from DeLand, Florida, who was tragically murdered in 1994. Detective LeMay details the events of that day, the investigation's progress, and the current focus on finding new leads through DNA evidence. They discuss the importance of community involvement and the $50,000 reward for information leading to the case's resolution.

Call the Major Case Unit at 386-254-1537 or email [email protected] if you have any tips on the Laralee Spear case.

Resources:

Who Killed Laralee Spear? 50K Reward and 30 Years Later with Sheriff Michael Chitwood 

Show Notes:

  • (0:00) Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum  
  • (2:00) Sheryl introduces guest, Cordell Lemay to the listeners 
  • (3:00) Overview of Laralee Spear's Case
  • (6:00) The crime scene and initial investigation
  • (12:30) The search for suspects
  • (17:30) Community involvement and call to action
  • (20:30) “The easiest secrets to keep is the secret only one person knows about because you don't got other people that can rat you out. But even if it's just one person, I firmly believe over 30 years somebody had to get this off their chest to somebody.” -C.L
  • (23:00) Detective LeMay's commitment
  • (30:25) “Even when a case wasn't mine if I thought I could contribute, whether with my forensics expertise or investigative doggedness. I always found a way to insert myself.” -P.H
  • Thanks for listening to another episode! If you’re loving the show and want to help grow the show, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review! 

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.  

Social Links:

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Y'all, this is part two of the cold case of Laura Lee Spear.

0:14.1

Y'all remember last week we got to speak with Sheriff Chitwood out of the Volusia County Sheriff's

0:20.3

Office. He was fantastic.

0:22.6

He wants this case solved, and he's got the right man on it.

0:27.6

I'm going to tell you all, Detective Cordell LeMay.

0:31.6

He has been with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office for 14 years.

0:36.6

11 of those as a detective.

0:40.3

He has worked major case, he's worked crimes against persons, property crimes, started as a road deputy

0:48.3

deputy, and that's where he got, I'm sure, the majority of his training.

0:54.2

He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a professional certificate in profiling,

1:00.5

both from UCF, the University of Central Florida.

1:04.9

He was the first deputy in recent memory, so that's probably about three decades, that successfully investigated

1:13.7

and charged a RICO case.

1:17.0

Then he pioneered the development of the GeoFence search warrant for his department.

1:23.7

He was only second to Raleigh, North Carolina in the whole country, pulling that off.

1:30.3

He was also investigator of the year. I have talked to this man. We have talked about

1:37.3

Laura Lee's case. And I'm going to tell y'all right now, he don't get tired. We talked about

1:43.3

different people, threw some names out, said, hey, this might be a way to get you some help.

1:49.1

This might be a different vantage point.

1:50.9

This might be a new way to look at something.

1:53.3

He was all about it.

1:54.5

He was not going to hesitate to try whatever he could.

...

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