Infrared Evidence: The Murders Of Kathy Blair & The Sheltons

Austin Texas December 6th 2014 23-year-old Joseph had been staying with his mother Cathy while waiting for his assignment from the Navy he had been out all night with friends and returned home just afternoon the next day everything on his mom's Road seemed as peaceful as ever the house was quiet when he entered he checked each room for his mom before heading into her bedroom no sooner had he steep foot in inside he was on the phone to 911 hey I need you to come to my is Kathy Blair Police taped off the house and a

homicide investigation was underway Kathy Blair had been murdered after two divorces 53-year-old Kathy Blair was throwing herself into work and spending time with her children Kathy's sister said she was very strong in her convictions she knew what she wanted and was never afraid to go for it she was definitely the boss and wasn't afraid to speak her mind her passion since she was young was singing when she moved to Austin she knew she would make it her career she became the director of the Christian Coral Society of Austin a music program for homeschooled students and

singing lessons on the [Music] side Kathy lived on the 4600 block of the tamarak trail a home on a quiet Suburban Street where everyone knew everyone and just minutes away from the busy and vibrant atmosphere that she also loved being a part of tonight police are asking for your help to solve the murder of a popular music teacher Kathy Blair was found dead in northwest Austin in her home Saturday afternoon back at the house the police were piecing things together it might seem cliche to say but it really was not the type of area you

would ever expect anything like this to happen in crime was so low and detectives said nighttime burglaries were unusual anyway but especially in places like this to just take a chance walking into someone's house on a quiet street where many had guns was just so risky Cathy was so well-liked no one could think of anyone that would want to cause her harm she had been choked and stabbed biting back until eventually her throat was slashed there was no evidence of a sexual assault the light switch had blood on it so it seemed that Kathy had

been asleep and the murder had happened in the middle of the night once Cathy was dead they flipped on the switch to look around robbery looked like the motive as her jewelry box had been pulled out and completely emptied but there were valuables still lying around like a laptop a Kindle and a phone so why hadn't they been taken as well had the scene been staged the more they looked around the more they felt this showed signs of a targeted hit not a random robbery Joe said his mom never locked the back door few people

did on that street it was just that kind of neighborhood as there was no forced entry this was clearly how her killer had got in they ruled out the people closest to her quickly but they did think whoever did this likely knew she left the back door open so they must have been known to her the killer had clearly spent a lot of time making sure there was no DNA or fingerprints Left Behind Cathy's blood was everywhere but no one else's was as well as the jewelry a pillow case was missing potentially this was how

they got her belongings out of the house there was one big clue they hadn't got rid of however a bloody shoe impression on the floor it was a size 10 and they could tell the brown too so this was something to work [Music] with students have been preparing for this concert for 6 months 5 days after her murder 100 of her students came together and performed the Christmas concert they had been practicing with her Hearts they sing out loud for the Heavens to hear unlike some folks she just had enough love to pass out that

the cup never entered well there have been plenty of Tears they know this is what their beloved teacher Kathy Blair would have wanted she's been giving the gift of music to students for decades there tears of sadness they didn't want to let her down and it was very emotional every student she had past and present turned up to watch and take part if they wanted to he says Kathy has impacted thousands of lives and that was clear throughout the concert I can't tell you how proud uh all of us are as parents with how our

kids have kind of stepped up in very very trying circumstances and like I say that's a tribute to [Music] Kathy we're told Kathy's funeral is planned for December 20th reporting from St Austin's Catholic Church Amanda brandise KX news as people were saying goodbye to the loved music teacher investigators got an interesting call from one of Cathy's neighbors Rob about 12 hours before Jo found her at 1:16 a.m. Rob had been outside his house with his camera testing a new thermal scope he was excited to try a thermal scope detects radiation but it doesn't need light

to produce an image so images can look clear and bright even when it's Pitch Black Rob had been filming some deer when he spotted a car pulling up just down the road he watched as someone got out and started walking towards Cathy's house someone tall with Broad shoulders and with what Rob thought was an unusual walk it was only when he read that Kathy had been killed he remembered what he had seen and knew he had to turn the footage over detectives watched and agreed this video was unsettling the person walked right into Cathy's front

garden this gave them a time frame of somewhere between 1:30 and 4:00 a.m. obviously nothing could be made out past the build in the distinctive walk but experts did think they were looking for a dark colored Toyota another lead then came just over a week after Cathy was killed but it was a tough pill for investigators to swallow to say the least police have being called to the 1700 block of Brentwood Street just a few miles from Cathy's house 85-year-old Sydney Shel ton and his wife 83-year-old Billy had also been found murdered in their home

their nurse had walked in and discovered them beaten and strangled next to each other in bed Billy had been stabbed many times in her face and the knife was still lodged in her eye the same as Cathy's bedroom theirs was trashed and a jewelry box had been rifled through and emptied with the drawers pulled out the same detectives were assigned to the case and they said the whole scene gave them deja vu Sydney and Billy had been married for 64 years retired for 25 years and had a big family around them they lived a simple

and quiet life just enjoying being with their grandchildren and going to church their Pastor said they were just warm-hearted precious people they loved this area loved being around the kids they were soft they were people you could always count on they had just been looking forward to Christmas with their family police now had to ask the question were they dealing with a serial killer there was nothing connecting Cathy to the Shelton at all but the crimes were almost identical so they had to wonder One of Cathy's friends then shared something with the detectives Kathy had

told her about a handyman who had done some work in their home he left her feeling so uncomfortable and creeped out she never wanted him back they asked Cathy's landlord about him him and he said the person they were looking for was Timothy Parlin 49-year-old Timothy was actually on parole having served time behind bars for various crimes including Jewel heists his criminal record was so long when they added up all the time he had served it was more than 20 years he was definitely a hardened criminal but did this make him a murderer as well

as doing odd jobs around town Tim was working in a 7-Eleven and living in a long Day hotel with his wife when police knocked at his door they noticed right away that his height and build did not match the images they had seen on the thermal scope outside Cathy's home he refused to let them inside however saying his wife would get upset and instead sent them away with a DNA swab and an alibi to check out he said he was on shift at 7-Eleven over those days and didn't come home until late eyebrows were raised

when this Alibi turned out to be false so they went back to the hotel Tim wasn't in but this time his wife was and she was actually happy to let them inside for a chat she said they both knew the Shelton couple from church she also knew all about Cathy from the news his wife LED them to a receipt for a necklace that Tim had porned about 12 hours after Cathy was killed the investigators said they knew in this moment that Tim was absolutely involved surveillance from the porn shop clearly showed Tim and the the

car he was driving which turned out to be his sisters a dark green Toyota no less they got a Warren to impound the car and as soon as they opened the passenger side door they saw blood all over the seat a swift turnaround on the DNA showed it was a match to [Music] Cathy after a tough interrogation Tim told detectives they needed to speak to a man named sha Gant B alkazar he said this man had not only killed Kathy but Billy and Sydney Shelton too Tim admitted to wanting to Rob both houses but he

was just there for the valuables repeating over and over these hands didn't kill anyone during their search of his hotel room they found drugs so they were able to keep him in custody on a parole violation while they looked into this random new name which they admitted they believed was totally made up a search of Sha's name on the system did show someone by that name but he had no criminal record a successful career in teaching and lived more than 3 hours away from Cathy and the Shelton they tracked Shawn down and got him to

come in for an interview he seemed tired and a bit out of sorts telling them he had just taken a Valium and was worrying the police were going to pressure him into saying something that wasn't true but detectives genuinely not believing this man had anything to do with it told him at the top of the interview their questioning was voluntary and sha could leave at any time they were hoping to rule him out quickly and focus back on Tim who they believed was just throwing names out there to give himself more time we're investigating a

murder in Austin and in particular we're looking at Tim Parlin as the person that we we believe committed to murder I'm curious cuz I'm completely in the dark on this um who is murder the thing is honestly I want to help you guys out because this guy wolf and Chief's cloes Bas didn't tell me anything in his PA as they expected sha said he had no knowledge of the murders but he did admit to being in Austin and staying with Tim at the time of the homicides this seemed a very unlikely friendship but sha said

he knew Tim because his sister was dating Tim's nephew Sha's story then started changing left and right and he eventually said that he and Tim had stopped in a random neighborhood for no particular reason in the early morning hours of December the 6th Kathy's neighborhood the name of the street no I never remember Street Tim went into what turned out to be Cathy's house returning covered in blood and holding a pillowcase full of jewelry sack had blood on it threw it in the passenger floorboard and I took a peek at it had jewelry in it

and I didn't want anything to do with it the fact that it had blood on it was not a good sign detectives knew this was going to be a long back and forth as they pulled the truth out bit by bit so they decided to take a cigarette break it was during this time they noted he was wearing the exact shoe they had been looking for that matched the bloody print they watched him walk around and he had the same height build and distinctive walk as the figure in the video and for the eenth time

sha changed the story again and admitted to being in Cathy's house looking to rob her while Tim waited outside he said he got in through the unlocked back door which he knew would be unlocked as Tim had told him and once inside he spent a few minutes creeping around from room to room looking for valuables he told me to go in the house and get the stuff came in through where back door you said yeah it was open yeah I turned on a couple lights um in rooms where I didn't see her I found the

room where she was and she was fast asleep now was the one where jewelry box was in okay and so I I opened the jewelry box took the stuff out put it in the the thing maybe he went back I don't know but I didn't kill her he went into her bedroom and emptied out the jewelry box but claimed that Cathy was still alive and undisturbed when he left something which put simply could never have been true with everything thrown at him and after almost 5 hours in the interrogation room sha confessed to murdering Cathy

Blair she woke up she lunged at me grabbed the knife started trying to wrestle it out of my hand and then it was a struggle and I stabbed her in the neck I I didn't even want to do it I was just it was I was trying to get the jewelry without doing it you get to keep any of it no he didn't give me anything I got nothing you're going to have to ask him where he fenced it he had gone in to rob the place and Cathy was sleeping as he grew closer she

woke up and lunged at him to fight him off he then stabbed her in the neck ran out with the valuables and gave them to Tim to porn he made no mention of Billy and Sydney Shelton however but police knew they were all connected sha someone police genuinely believed Tim had pulled out of thin air was now sat in front of them admitting to everything his behavior was so detached he was either chatty and conversational or yawning and acting like the whole thing was a huge inconvenience to him investigators were now even more confused because

they knew he had done this all for nothing he had gained nothing as Tim had taken all of the valuables not giving him anything back to this day authorities say they cannot fathom why Shawn wanted to be involved they placed 30-year-old Shor under arrest for the murder of Cathy Blair and although they had strong suspicions they did not have enough evidence to charge him in the Shelton murders however they did have enough to charge Tim Parlin with all three in Texas if you're complicit in a crime you can be held equally responsible so given what

he had said about sha killing all three people police charged him with capital murder in all three homicides he did not even need to have stepped a foot inside either house they believe that not only was Tim complicit he was actually The Mastermind behind everything the confessions Cathy's blood in Tim's car the cell phone data putting them at the scenes the porned necklace the shoe print and the video filmed by Rob all made for a strong case let's face it in Austin Texas the the the possibility of being murdered by a stranger is very low

and that's why these these violent crimes and these V homicides has really shaken the foundation of our community during the investigation detectives interviewed Timothy Scott Parlin during one of the interviews Parlin stated he was called to the area of tarac trail to pick up a suspect by the name of Shan Grant Benin alkazar Ben alkazar has been charged with capital murder for the murder of Kathy Blair investigators further believe that Timothy parlon and Sean Gman Alazar were actively involved in the burglary of the Sheldon home and the deaths of Billy and Sydney Sheldon these investigations

are ongoing and detectives continue to pursue All Leads and information related to the incidents that I just described it is critical for this community to note the off Police Department is still requesting the Public's assistance with any information reference to any of the cases that I just described and I don't care if you're a pawn shop I don't care of you're just a person walking down the street we're not interested in you we are interested and bringing Justice to to the families of three people that have brutally been taken from us 3 years ago today

Austin singer and choir instructor Kathy Blair was murdered in her home tonight the two men charged in connection with her death remain in Travis County Jail they've yet to see their day in court both men pleaded not guilty and it came as no surprise that 3 years later when their trials began they would still be turning on each other in court Sha's new line of defense was that his confession was totally made up something he felt he had to say to get the police off his back he added that because of the Valium in his

system he was not in a fit enough state to be answering anything and should not have been under such scrutiny um I was led to believe that um I would be charged with it regardless and that the only way that I was going to I mean I I thought that I was going to be charged with it regardless and I was told that the only thing I could do to mitigate the circumstances would be to give a reason but his confession had been so specific only the killer would know those details Sean Gant Ben alcasar

entered Court Wednesday and gave a quick wave to some friends he recognized back in the room this defendant's the murderer there's no evidence that Tim Parlin went in that house that Tim Parlin went in that closet the man walked in there to kill her and to kill her slow and ugly that's not random jury heard from Specialists who process blood and DNA evidence collected from the crime scene and no hair follicles were traced back to Gant Ben alkazar but a small blood spot was found on his jacket and tested prosecutors admit it's not conclusive evidence

but it is important did you go into Cathy's home no I did not have you ever gone no I have not did you kill C no I did not Thursday the jury is expected to watch a video where he not only talks about that but also confesses to killing Kathy Blair why ADM to being part of a crime then well I think that he was overwhelmed the defense will challenge the confession not by focusing on the words spoken but how the interrogation was done well what it was is that they did not read him his

rights even after it becomes you'll see tomorrow after it becomes apparent that he is a suspect at least in the birth ly they don't read him his rights they don't read him his rights until they are done asking every question that they want to and we just think that's not fair we think that that the law is that they should have to read him his rights and so that's our big problem in April 2018 after a lengthy 19 hours of deliberating the judge was forced to declare a mistrial they failed to reach a unanimous verdict

as one person said they could not take the confession at face value this became a huge issue for the the rest of the jury who were adamant he was guilty and things did not end so well with their discussions jurors say things became borderline hostile especially when one juror refused to participate in the discussion this comes as a disappointment to both jurors and the prosecution it's hard we would have liked to stay and done our job and it was very difficult but it it wasn't going to happen very disappointed of course a lot of work

has gone into getting this case to trial it's been several years in the making there were some still on the fence and by day two they had moved um over a little bit but we still had one hold out and not guilty and it just became contentious and difficult one juror who asked not to be identified said the one hold out eventually stopped participating in the discussion the jury thought the video of gamp Ben alcazar's confession was going to lead to a unanimous vote so much of the confession that he made in galvaston matched up

with facts that then were corroborated now a family spokesman says the Blair family is frustrated that they cannot get the J they felt a guilty verdict today would have brought it was now back to the beginning for the prosecution while the teams got on with prepping for Sha's new trial the attention was now on 53-year-old Tim Parlin and the prosecution decided not to seek the death penalty he was still sticking to his story sha had killed everyone without his knowledge and he just porned some jewelry to get some quick cash however this verdict was Far

easier to reach in May 2018 after just 3 hours he was found guilty he was sentenced to mandatory life in prison with no chance of parole a man found guilty of planning the killings of an elderly couple and a music teacher in Austin will spend the rest of his life in prison Harlin was found guilty on five charges of capital murder in total it's it's a good day this is a good day we're um very thankful that um the jury made the right decision prosecution called parlon The Mastermind behind the killings it took the Less

Than 3 hours to come back with that guilty verdict it's a great day for my Mom and Dad we finally got Justice for them we'll never bring my mom and dad back it will never bring Kathy Blair back but we might have saved somebody else by the getting him off the streets well Robert it's been about six months since the first jury heard this case could not come to a unanimous verdict and forced a mistrial now today after just about 2 and 1 half hours of deliberations family members loved ones of Kathy Blair say they're

relieved in his second trial 34-year-old sha was also convicted of capital murder in Cathy's case he received the same sentence as Tim life in prison with no chance of parole he maintains that his confession was a fabrication and that Tim was the Killer and in 2020 he filed an unsuccessful appeal after four long years and three trials Travis County Prosecutors had finally closed three complicated cases the police had worked so hard on solving it leaving no stone unturned even if that meant a long wait for justice Rob Cathy's neighbor who also played a pivotal role

was commended by the Austin Police Department his thermal video had been so important [Music] detectives said that Tim and sha were nothing but sadistic greedy monsters especially sha who gained nothing he just wanted to take three lives for no reason and we don't know about you but it never ceases to amaze us how greed with even the smallest of gains can be such a driving force for people to commit the most horrific crimes Sydney and Billy Shelton went to bed excited for the upcoming festivities and spoiling their grandchildren over the holidays they died together frightened

vulnerable and unable to even fight back Kathy's sister said at the end of the day she's gone I can't call her tonight murder leaves a gaping hole and Time Heals but it's still a wound you get on with life and do the best you can but there's always just that something missing [Music] for those of you that like to listen on the go we now have our episodes in podcast form and you can now find this via the link in our description box or by searching truly criminal podcast on your podcasting platforms [Music]