On November 5, 1979, just before 2 a.m., 32-year-old sheriff's deputy, John Greer surveyed a grisly crime scene.

The scene was a farm store near Punta Gorda in western Florida, and the

crime was murder. Greer radioed dispatch and reported that he had discovered a homicide. 25-year-old

Adele Marie Easterly, a clerk at the local store, lay on the ground. She had been executed

with two shots to the back of the head.

As far as a motive, Greer noticed that about $7 was missing from the till, but that hardly

seemed a reason to take someone's life. At first glance, there was no other explanation

for why Adele had been shot, and at such a young age.

After Greer called in his gruesome discovery, he requested investigators to come examine

the scene.

Seemed he was simply doing his job.

But years later, disturbing details about the killing of Adele Easterly would come out. Details that suggested Deputy Greer was involved as more than just an on-duty officer

calling in a crime.

This is the opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One.

You're listening to a story told in one episode called John Greer Above the Law.

I'm Sarah James McLaughlin.

In this episode, we dive into the story of John Greer, a Florida-based law enforcement officer

who in the late 70s and early 80s,

found himself connected to several women who turned up dead. Back in 1979, John Greer and his wife Jackie were new to Charlotte County, a beach community just north of Fort

Meyer on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. And Greer had yet to have discovered any strange

deaths. To help shed some light on these events, we spoke with NBC2 reporter Alexia Choropoulos

of Fort Myers, Florida.

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