PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Forty-five years after a retailer clerk was shot and killed, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace recognized a former deputy because the prime suspect.
It is a story with many twists and turns, together with the capturing dying of the deputy’s spouse simply months earlier than the homicide in query.
Homicide of Adele Easterly
CCSO mentioned Adele Easterly, 25, was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun whereas working on the Farm Retailer off U.S. 17 in Punta Gorda on Nov. 5, 1979.
Pictured: Adele Easterly. (Courtesy: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace.)
Her dying was referred to as in by Deputy John Greer, who was on obligation on the time and claimed he discovered Easterly useless inside the shop.
The next yr, in October 1980, Greer resigned from the pressure whereas beneath investigation for different alleged actions.
Pictured: John Greer. (Courtesy: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace.)
Extra particulars would come to mild in 1986, when a buddy of Easterly advised detectives that Easterly had talked about courting a Charlotte County deputy, who would go to her on the retailer whereas she labored the evening shift. Easterly additionally reportedly talked about she was afraid of the deputy about two weeks earlier than her homicide.
Greer was additionally identified to hold a private 12-gauge shotgun in his automotive – the identical kind of gun used to kill Easterly.
Taking pictures dying of John Greer’s spouse
On Aug. 27, 1979 – 71 days earlier than Easterly’s dying – Greer’s spouse, Jackie, was shot on the couple’s Port Charlotte dwelling. On the time, there was no proof proving Jackie’s dying was something aside from a suicide.
When detectives interviewed Easterly’s buddy in 1986, she mentioned the deputy Easterly was courting – now believed to be Greer – claimed he advised his spouse he needed a divorce, and the couple fought over a gun, which went off and killed his spouse.
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Across the similar time, Greer advised investigators a distinct story about Jackie’s dying: he mentioned he heard a popping sound whereas sleeping and awoke to search out his spouse shot to dying in a closet.
No different Charlotte County deputies misplaced a spouse to suicide or murder throughout that interval, in line with CCSO.
Connecting Greer to the deaths
Many years handed, with CCSO’s Chilly Case Unit, which was shaped in 2009, finally taking up the case of Easterly’s homicide.
The case was featured on the sheriff’s workplace’s social media accounts in 2016. On the time, investigators didn’t title their prime suspect, however they mentioned he had data of regulation enforcement, had relocated to both Tennessee or Kentucky, and had talked about his involvement in a homicide throughout altercations with different ladies.
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That put up led to tips on John Greer, together with from a lady who mentioned Greer repeatedly sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her when she was a part of CCSO’s ‘Explorer’ program, which works with teenagers and younger adults. The lady mentioned that in one assault, Greer advised her “ask them useless [expletive] like Adele Easterly what occurs once they say no to me.”
The lady additionally mentioned she was working in dispatch the evening of Easterly’s homicide and that Greer returned to the sheriff’s workplace complicated carrying an extended gun whereas showing matted.
Detectives intently monitored Greer within the Kingsport, Tennessee, space within the years that adopted, and tried to interview him.
Pictured: John Greer in 2020. (Courtesy: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace.)
That interview lastly occurred in April 2023, by which level Greer was bedridden at an prolonged care facility and will solely give quick solutions to questions.
Through the 2023 interview, Greer admitted to capturing each Easterly and his spouse, Jackie. He didn’t affirm whether or not Jackie’s capturing dying was intentional or unintentional.
Whereas detectives lastly had some concrete solutions, Greer was deemed unable to face trial on account of his declining well being. He died on March 2, 2024, at age 77.
“I’ve at all times mentioned that we are going to not disguise from our previous, irrespective of how darkish,” Sheriff Invoice Prummell mentioned in a press release. “This case reveals that we are going to at all times search the reality, even after we could not like what we discover. I need to be clear that this particular person doesn’t characterize the overwhelmingly nice women and men who’ve labored for this company over our century-plus of existence. I’m indignant on the scar he has left on our status, however I’m much more upset concerning the folks he damage by means of his vile actions. My coronary heart goes out to the victims and their family members.”
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