EP 8: Sherry Ellis Allegations
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Official Police Reports (redacted) Below: (coming soon)
Investigative Photos Taken By Detectives Kim Davis and Rocky Gregory:
Investigator Brian Bates’ Notes Regarding AVL/GPS Data Below:
Below are 360° Photos Taken by Private Investigator Brian Bates
Photo of alleged 1st sexual assault location: On Highland Dr., between NE 17th St. and NE 18th St.
Photo showing where Holtzclaw most likely hopped the curb and the furthest distance he could have driven before his patrol car pinged his location again (36’) and showed the car to be parked.
Photo showing where Sherry Ellis claims Daniel Holtzclaw parked, removed her from his patrol car, bent her over and raped her. This location is 10x further than he could have driven based on his patrol car GPS.
Bates Investigates
Episode 8 ׀Daniel Holtzclaw: Sherry Ellis Allegations
[OPENING MUSIC]
Disclaimer: This podcast deals with adult subject matter, including depictions of drug addiction, prostitution, sexual assault, and rape. Parental guidance is suggested.
00:37 [OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE]
Newscaster: Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, with the Police Department for three years, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting women he pulled over while on the job.
Jannie Liggons: He said, ‘Come on, come on, just a minute, just a minute’. I say, ‘Sir, I can’t do this’. I say, ‘you gonna shoot...’
Det. Kim Davis: Tell me your description of him.
Sherri Ellis: He’s black.
Det. Kim Davis: He’s b—okay, he’s a black male.
Det. Kim Davis: What did your daughter tell you?
Amanda Gates: She said, ‘I met this really hot cop’.
Shardayreon Hill: So, this is good evidence?
Det. Rocky Gregory: Well, you tell me.
[OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE ENDS]
Timestamp: The following episode contains investigative events which occurred between July 28and August 5, 2014.
01:26
Host: Welcome back to Bates Investigates - Season One: The State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw. This is episode eight. When we left off last episode, Assistant District Attorney, Gayland Gieger, had agreed to file one criminal count each of Forcible Oral Sodomy against then twenty-seven year old Oklahoma City Police Officer, Daniel Holtzclaw. The charges were in response to allegations made by fifty-seven year old, Janie Liggons, and forty-three year old, Terry Morris. We also learned that detectives put Holtzclaw and his attorney on notice that OCPD Lab Analyst, Elaine Taylor, had found female DNA on the fly area of Holtzclaw’s uniform pants. As I explained last episode, the female DNA in question is nothing more than a tiny speck of common skin cells. The same type and quantity you would expect to see from innocuous contact like a handshake, a pat down on bare skin, or even from rummaging through another person’s personal belongings. What wasn’t found with the DNA was any evidence of consensual or non-consensual sexual contact: no pubic hairs, no blood, no semen, no saliva, and no vaginal secretions. Despite that reality, Oklahoma City Sex Crimes Lieutenant, Tim Muzny, and Detectives Kim Davis and Rocky Gregory, determine Holtzclaw must have additional victims and they set out to identify them.
3:10
Their first step? To pull the names of every one Officer Holtzclaw had run through the police department’s database from April to June 18 of 2014. From there, they eliminated all male individuals. But then, Lieutenant Muzny takes an additional step—he further reduces the list to black females with a history of prostitution and/or drugs. According to detectives own records, Lieutenant Muzny then distributes this much smaller list to Detectives Davis and Gregory for follow up. For unknown reasons, every investigator questioned at trial denied the existence of this targeted list. According to Detective Davis’ own report, one of the very first names on that list that doesn’t exist was thirty-nine year old, Sherry Ellis. Ellis fit the profile Lieutenant Muzny had arbitrarily created. She was a black female with a history of both prostitution and drugs. More importantly, though, records show that Holtzclaw had run Ellis through the Varuna database four times over two days and three patrol shifts on May 7 and 8, 2014. On July 24, Detectives Davis and Homan set out to locate Ellis. Over the next several days, detectives visited several addresses and called numerous phone numbers listed in the Varuna database. While they were able to locate a recent ex-boyfriend, an older gentleman, who was wheelchair bound, named Terry Mack, they were unable to locate Ellis. On August 1, 2014, Detective Davis located a social media account for Ellis, and sent her, and at least one of her relatives, a message. The next day, Ellis called Detective Davis back. The following is a recording of that call.
05:14[RECORDING BEGINS]
[PHONE RINGING]
Sherry Ellis:Hello?
Det. Kim Davis:Is this Sherry?
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
Det. Kim Davis:Sherry, this is Detective Davis.
Sherry Ellis:Yes, ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. [laughter] You sound frantic in your messages.
Sherry Ellis:Oh, yeah, because I, uh—because I don’t know—because I don’t know what’s going on.
Det. Kim Davis:It’s—it’s—it’s okay. That’s why I f—that’s why I—I been wanting to find you and just ask you something, okay?
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:I have received a tip on—I been workin—I work in Sex Crimes and I been working some cases, and I received a tip that you may have been sexually assaulted by a police officer.
Sherry Ellis:Yes, I have. But I, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t—cause I know that the po—I know police department and police they all stick together.
Det. Kim Davis:Well, we ain’t sticking together on this one.
Sherry Ellis:Oh, okay.
Det. Kim Davis:So, I would like to interview you.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, well, uh, it ha—uh, it happened to me, like, maybe, I’d say three months ago.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I was walking down the street and I got stopped and he run my—he run—he run a check on me and he found out that I had some City warrants and tickets and he asked me what did—what did he—what did I feel like I needed to be done. And I told him what did he mean.
Det. Kim Davis:Uh huh.
Sherry Ellis:And he said, ‘Well, what do you think that needs to be done about the situation, um, Sherry?’ And I was, like, and still, I was like, ‘What do you mean what d—do I think?’ He say, ‘Well, uh, wh—what do you think? Cause do you think you need to go to jail?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I got tickets. Are you gonna take me to jail or are you not?’
Det. Kim Davis:Uh huh.
Sherry Ellis:And next thing I know…
[exasperated breath and shuffling before Ellis begins speaking to a third party in the background]
Sherry Ellis:Hey, I got to go to the bathroom cause this is like, very, very serious.
Third Party Male: All right. Just [inaudible] close that door [inaudible].
Third Party Female:You close this?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Third Party Female:Okay.
7:04
[To Detective Davis]
Sherry Ellis:And next thing I know he pulled his thang—he pulled his penis out and put it into my face. And then, after that, he put me back in the back of the police car, and he took me to the park over there on, uh… over there off of Miramar took me out and told me to pull my pants down.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And then he said well I was free to go and he let me walk off.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I didn’t ever get his badge number. I don’t know anything. I was terrified. I just didn’t know what was going on because he’s all—he, he, he said I do that or he was gonna—I don’t know, I didn’t know whether if I still did it…
Det. Kim Davis:It’s okay.
Sherry Ellis:Or is he gonna take me to jail or what? It was a black man.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, but I don’t know his name or anything.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:But it happened—it happened, like, maybe, I—I’d say maybe three or four months ago.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And I told a cou—I told a couple of people. I told my, my husband. And, uh, he told me to go to the, uh, to the hospital…
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:But I had alr—I had had sex with him too, and he said that if I said sex with him and him, it wouldn’t ma—it wouldn’t a made no—no difference. It wouldn’t have made—it wouldn’t—it wouldn’t have did any good. Or something he told me.
Det. Kim Davis:What? Tell me what the—an—an—and I’m not—I wanna interview you in person, so…
Sherry Ellis:Okay. And he, but he also that night, when he picked me up, he also, uh, called in and that’s how he found out that I have—I had City warrants. I don’t have any County warrants, I have City warrants.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he do that on his radio? Or on the computer? Or…
Sherry Ellis:Huh?
Det. Kim Davis:Did he call—call you in…
Sherry Ellis:He ca…
Det. Kim Davis:…to check you for warrants…
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, he called me…
Det. Kim Davis:…on your radio or your computer?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, he called, he called, he called me in to check for the—check for em, on his, on the c—the police computer.
Det. Kim Davis:Computer or did he say it on the radio?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, he, he pulled it up on the computer.
Det. Kim Davis:Computer.
Sherry Ellis:And then he called. Then he called in.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:And they called…
Det. Kim Davis:Called, like, on his telephone?
Sherry Ellis:On his, uh, thing.
Det. Kim Davis:On his radio?
Sherry Ellis:On the police—yeah. And then they told him that I had—that’s when—that’s how he found out that I had warrants. City warrants.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Okay. What, um…
Sherry Ellis:He was in a black and white police car.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he, um, and, uh, just—and like I said, I—I don’t want to go into depth here, cause I think it’s rude that I talk to you about a sexual assault [laugh] on the phone. I wanna schedule a time to interview you. But what was the sexual assault?
9:23
Sherry Ellis:Uh, well, when I—when he first, when he first pulled me over and he was asking me what we was gonna do about this situation, th—I—I was looking down and then when I looked up he had pulled his penis out and had—and had it in, like, in my—cause I was sitting in the back police car and he was standing up over me. And he pulled his penis out and had it in my face.
Det. Kim Davis:Did…
Sherry Ellis:[inaudible]
Det. Kim Davis:Did he put it in your mouth?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, he did. And then after I did th—I did that, he told me to get back—he told me I had to get back into the police—back of the police car and he drove me into the p—he drove me—he drove me into the park right there off of Miramar and, Sixteenth and Miramar, that park.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And went in the back of it—uh, behind this building, and told me to get out and pull my pants down. And I bent over and he had sex with me. He had sex.
Det. Kim Davis:Uh…
Sherry Ellis:And then he told me—he told—then he told me I was free to go. And he let me walk off.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Then he—and after that happened, I stopped walking at night. I mean, I—I—af—during the day, once it gets dark I—I stopped walking cause I didn’t want to have to go back.
Det. Kim Davis:Right.
Sherry Ellis:I didn’t want to have to see him no more cause I was—I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I didn’t want that to happen to me no more, so I just stopped walking completely.
Det. Kim Davis:What was the name of the park?
Sherry Ellis:Uh… oh… okay, you know, six—I don’t know the name of the park, but you know Sixteenth and Miramar?
Det. Kim Davis:Uh huh.
Sherry Ellis:Northeast Sixteenth and Miramar?
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. What? Do you? Can you tell me, um, oh, I lost my train of thought there. What—where were you walking when he stopped you?
Sherry Ellis:Okay, I was walking from my house. I use to stay on Sixteen—uh, Sixteenth and Terrace. I was walking off of Highland. And when I—I was walking, I went down Sixteenth and Terrace until I—I hit Highland, and then I turned right going down Highland, then I passed, uh, Sixteenth Street and Highland, and then I went down just a little bit farther, and maybe a block and a half after that is when he pulled me—stopped me.
Det. Kim Davis:So, were you—were you on Highland when he stopped you?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, I was on…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Yes, I was on Highland.
Det. Kim Davis:What, um, what… What’s today? It’s Friday. I’m off Monday. Do—what are you doing Tuesday? Can—Can I meet with you Tuesday?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, yes. Yes, you can. Um, I—I’m going to school now. I’m—I’m going to school five days a week. I’m at—as a matter of fact, I’m at school right now.
11:36
Det. Kim Davis:Where do you go to school?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, OCI.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I—cause I’m—I’m getting my GED.
Det. Kim Davis:Good for you.
Sherry Ellis:And, uh, I been going here for almost three weeks now.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:So, I mean, I’m—I go Monday through Friday from 8:15 to 2:45, so… Tuesday, I have, uh, I have a lecture so it—it’s better for me to come on a Tuesday because all I’m doing is sitting in there listening to this man talk. So, that’ll give me a break.
Det. Kim Davis:What… well, do you want a break or do you…
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, I mean, I—I done had enough lectures. I mean, I’m not gonna miss any—it’s not gonna—I’m not gonna miss too much j—all in one day.
Det. Kim Davis:What—what—
Sherry Ellis:[inaudible] one day.
Det. Kim Davis:what about this, what about this, what about tomorrow?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, tomorrow’s Saturday?
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah.
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I gotta go out of town tomorrow. Kingfisher.
Det. Kim Davis:What about Sunday?
Sherry Ellis:Mmm… Sunday? I don’t—I don’t think I have anything planned Sunday, I don’t know. But Tuesday is, is, is fine with me. Tuesday is fine.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, you tell me what time and where.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, Tuesday? What ti—what time and where? Uh, where you want me to meet you, up at your—at where you are?
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah. You wanna just come to the station?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:[inaudible]
Sherry Ellis:I’ll have my um, I’ll have my hu—my, my boyfriend bring me up there. What’s the, what’s the address?
Det. Kim Davis:The, it’s the downtown station. Across the street from the County Jail.
Sherry Ellis:Downtown station?
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah, the Oklahoma City Police Department Headquarters.
Sherry Ellis:Oh, okay. Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Police Department.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm. At the—do you know where the County Jail is?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, I’ve been there [laughing].
Det. Kim Davis:Do you know where the police department is right across the street?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah, that building.
Sherry Ellis:I—I know, I—I know somebody that knows somebody that knows where…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:We’re right across the street from the County Jail. East, like, on the corner of um, Colcord and Shartel.
Sherry Ellis:Okay. Well, my—my—my boyfriend gets off at 3:30 and I’m gonna have him bring me up there.
Det. Kim Davis:So 4:00?
Sherry Ellis:So, say [redacted] say, say, I’d say 4:30.
Det. Kim Davis:Tuesday at 4:30.
Sherry Ellis:Am I gonna be in any trouble?
Det. Kim Davis:Absolutely not!
Sherry Ellis:Okay, because they said that I was go—I—okay, all right.
Det. Kim Davis:No. Not…
Sherry Ellis:But I just kept it to myself.
Det. Kim Davis:No.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:And that—an—and, like I said, I li—I—I got a tip and I’m following up on it. And, and… cause… And I completely understand where you, you know, everybody says no cops stick up for themselves and stuff. Nah, we don’t put up with this.
Sherry Ellis:Oh.
Det. Kim Davis: It’s wrong. It’s wrong. It’s more than wrong.
13:53
Sherry Ellis:Okay, ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:So, um…
Sherry Ellis:Okay, now, now, now I feel a little better, cause I was, like, I ain’t did nothing since I been out the penitentiary. I’ve been on the straight and narrow road. And I’ve been paying my fines. And I was—everything was going through my mind, and I’m, like, uh…
Det. Kim Davis:Nope. You are not in trouble. Um, he is.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:And I just wanna meet you, and I wanna do full blown interview. I mean, I’m gonna ask you a ton of questions. Like, okay, well, how, did you take ten steps and then you turned? You know, just, go into all the details of it.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay?
Sherry Ellis:I’ll see you—I will see you Tuesday at 4:30.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, keep my number if something changes.
Sherry Ellis:Oh yes, I got it. I got it. I got it in my—in my phone.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:Thanks, Sherry.
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Bye bye.
Sherry Ellis:Bye bye.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Host:As promised, just a couple of days later, Ellis arrived at the Oklahoma City Police Department Headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City. Ellis then met one-on-one with Detective Davis. The following is the audio from their meeting.
14:53
[RECORDING BEGINS]
[footsteps]
Det. Kim Davis:And if you need the restroom or something, tell me and we’ll take a break.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:Just have a seat right there. Oh. All right. I’m glad you came in. Were you kinda nervous?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:I thought you would be. Okay, I’m just gonna get some background information from you first. Okay? And, some of the questions I’m gonna ask you—this is what I ask everybody, so don’t… I want background information from you whether it’s good, bad… I don’t care if you assassinated the president and his dog. I—it doesn’t matter to me. I just am getting the background. The same background I get from all my victims. Okay? So, but, let me make sure, is Sherry, S-H-E-R-R-Y?
Sherry Ellis:Yes ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:And it’s Ellis, E-L-L-I-S?
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
Det. Kim Davis:Is your birthday 2/20/75?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Where are you living right now?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I’m staying in a room.
Det. Kim Davis:Where at?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, Thirty Ninth Expressway.
Det. Kim Davis:Like a hotel?
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
Det. Kim Davis:Um, how long have you been staying there?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I’m going on a month.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Any cha—okay, how do I get ahold of you in the future in case this goes to court? Do you have, like, do—where do you get your mail?
Sherry Ellis:Uh… Right…
Det. Kim Davis:Like, do you have a mom’s address or a dad’s address? That’s a permanent location?
Sherry Ellis:Not really. Uh, I get my mail at my grandma’s address, but I don’t have her address on me I don’t think.
Det. Kim Davis:What’s your grandma’s name?
Sherry Ellis:[redacted] But, really, I don’t want her, eith—I didn’t ev—I was going over there to tell her today about what I had to do and, uh, I really—she’s old. I really don’t want her involved.
16:56
Det. Kim Davis:Ho—if this goes to court and we have to mail you a subpoena, where do you want it mailed?
Sherry Ellis:You gotta ask him.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:You gotta ask him.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. All right. Um…
Sherry Ellis:Cause he, he got a mom that’s been over there a d—almost twenty something years, over there where I use to stay on Sixteenth and Terrace. So, his momma stay right around the corner and she been there for several years. So that’s…
Det. Kim Davis:And you can get s…
Sherry Ellis:Yeah. It would be all right.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. All right. Other than what happened to you, what we’re gonna talk about today, have you ever been the victim of a crime? Like, have you ever been assaulted, have you ever been raped, have you ever been molested as a child?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Now, I know you’ve been arrested. What—cause you said that you recently got out of prison for…? What have you been arrested for?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I been arrested for Burglary Two.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:That’s what I went to the penitentiary for.
Det. Kim Davis:How, how much time did you do?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I had three years in, two years out.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I spent eighteen months and then I got out.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Um, I, uh, uh, I had been in, uh, a predicament, um, when I was in Spencer. Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon, but the State didn’t pick that up.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, so it wasn’t char…
Sherry Ellis:So, it was…
Det. Kim Davis:Wasn’t filed?
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:But far as that, um, I have—I have been, probably a couple, maybe ten, fifteen, twenty years, I don’t even think it was that long, but it’s been a long time, but I got in-uh-volved with a prostitution once.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Which, uh, it really, I don’t know why I got int—got caught up into the prostitution cause I wasn’t, but the police was, uh, doing a sting and they picked me up.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And that was probably back in ninety—uh, two thousand. Something like that.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And that’s it.
Det. Kim Davis:What about, what about drugs?
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:Have you used drugs before?
Sherry Ellis:Um, I use to use weed.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Any recent?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:What about crack?
Sherry Ellis:Nope.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Are you working right now?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, no I’m going to school.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, that’s right; you’re going to get your GED.
Sherry Ellis:Five days a week. Monday through…
Det. Kim Davis:Where do you go?
Sherry Ellis:OCI.
Det. Kim Davis:What’s that stand for?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, you know where the feds, uh, take drug tests?
Det. Kim Davis:Uh huh.
Sherry Ellis:And stuff like that? Right behind that.
Det. Kim Davis:Good for you.
Sherry Ellis:That building.
Det. Kim Davis:Good for you.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, I been… I go five days a week, Monday through Friday, 8:15 to 2:45.
19:20
Det. Kim Davis:Is it hard?
Sherry Ellis:Mm… not really. Cause I—I—I’m focused and ready to do it, so I’m…
Det. Kim Davis:You’re ready to get it done.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, cause when I was in the penitentiary I was trying to get my GED, but I had got out before I could get my GED, so…
Det. Kim Davis:Do they charge you? Does it cost?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm. Yeah, uh twenty five dollars.
Det. Kim Davis:Huh, that’s not bad. Okay, are you married? Single?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I’m single.
Det. Kim Davis:Have you ever been married?
Sherry Ellis:Nope. I’m alone. [inaudible] Terry Mack. Only me.
Det. Kim Davis:Do you have any kids?
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
Det. Kim Davis:How many kids?
Sherry Ellis:I have three.
Det. Kim Davis:What are their ages?
Sherry Ellis:A twenty year old, a nineteen year old, and a seven year old.
Det. Kim Davis:Do you have custody of the seven year old?
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:Daddy has custody?
Sherry Ellis:No, my cousin.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Did you lose custody when you went to p—prison?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, um, th—that’s when I was doing cocaine.
Det. Kim Davis:What kind of cocaine?
Sherry Ellis:Crack.
Det. Kim Davis:I thought you said you didn’t use crack?
Sherry Ellis:No, I said I did coke—well, I don’t do it now.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, but you have before?
Sherry Ellis:Be—before, yeah. But I don’t do it now though.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Going to the penitentiary stopped a lot of stuff for me.
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah, it does. Okay, um…
Sherry Ellis:But when she was born, they took her because she—I had crack I my system.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, she tested positive. [long pause] Um, do you have any medical problems?
Sherry Ellis:Um, blood pr—high blood pressure. Uh, I been goin—I went to Red Rock. Uh, um…
Det. Kim Davis:What—what’d you go to Red Rock for?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I get medication for de—severe depression. Uh…
Det. Kim Davis:What do you take for that?
Sherry Ellis:Prozac.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I take J—J—J—Jurdon for, uh, calm me down.
Det. Kim Davis:Jurdon? I haven’t heard of that one.
Sherry Ellis:J-U-R-D-O-N.
Det. Kim Davis:Do you have anxiety?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Is that what the Jurdon’s for?
Sherry Ellis:Something like that.
Det. Kim Davis:J-U-R-D-O-N? Okay, and Prozac.
Sherry Ellis:And um… what else I take?
Det. Kim Davis:Do you take medicine for your high blood pressure?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm. Lisinopril.
Det. Kim Davis:What is it?
Sherry Ellis:Lisinopril.
21:26
Det. Kim Davis:Any other medicines?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, Zantac, but that—that—that’s…
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, that’s just for…
Sherry Ellis:Heartburn.
Det. Kim Davis:That’s just for acid reflux, or whatever?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm. That’s all.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. All right, when I talked to you on the phone, you told me that you thought this happened about three months ago?
Sherry Ellis:Uh… probably about three months ago. What’s—this is, uh, Au…
Det. Kim Davis:This is August 5.
Sherry Ellis:So, about three months or four months ago. It would be like March, April.
Det. Kim Davis:When—you tell me when you think this happened.
Sherry Ellis:Bout three—bout four months ago.
Det. Kim Davis:About four months ago? Where were you in your life at that time? When did you get out of prison?
Sherry Ellis:I got out of the pen—I got out of the penitentiary in July of last year.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, okay. So, you’ve been out. So, where—when—about four months ago, this happened, where were you living then?
Sherry Ellis:I was staying on Sixteenth Terrace. Twenty…
Det. Kim Davis:With who?
Sherry Ellis:With, with J—with Terry.
Det. Kim Davis:With Terry Mack?
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
Det. Kim Davis:Sixteenth Terrace.
Sherry Ellis:Twenty two fifty eight Northeast Sixteenth and Terrace.
Det. Kim Davis:Twenty two fifty eight Northeast Sixteenth Terrace?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Now, were you off on the dope and stuff then?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, I was off.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I was off.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, you were off dope, then?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, okay. What, um, what time did you leave his house? Why were you out? What—you see what I’m saying?
Sherry Ellis:Um…
Det. Kim Davis:What were you doing that day?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, it was, it was before twelve o’clock.
Det. Kim Davis:Before midnight.
Sherry Ellis:Um, I was—I had left my house. I was staying with Terry. I had left my house, on my way to my cousin’s house.
Det. Kim Davis:On foot or in a car?
Sherry Ellis:I was on foot. My…
Det. Kim Davis:Who’s your cousin?
Sherry Ellis:My cousin, Deon. Her name is Deon Thompson. Thomas. But she lives, uh, up the street, around the—where I was walking—when I was on my way, uh, she stayed, like, maybe four blocks down.
23:31
Det. Kim Davis:Why were you going over there?
Sherry Ellis:Cause it’s my cousin and my nieces and nephews. I go over there all the time.
Det. Kim Davis:How do you spell Deon?
Sherry Ellis:D-E-O-N.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, but that’s a female?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. So, when you go… [papers shuffling] kinda draw me a picture from which way you went and stuff.
Sherry Ellis:Oh.
Det. Kim Davis:When you were walking. It don’t have to be perfect, cause I cannot draw stick people.
Sherry Ellis:[Laughing]
Det. Kim Davis:So…
Sherry Ellis:This my house.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Miramar right here. [inaudible] Miramar. My house right here, but I was going this way from Miramar, going all the way down Sixteenth and Terrace.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, you—th—the next block that you—the n—next major block you get to is right here. This is Highland.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Oh, you’re a lefty, too!
Sherry Ellis:Okay, I went across Highland. Right here is an intersection. That’s Sixteenth.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, so you’re going back north.
Sherry Ellis:I’m still going down Highland.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I cross Sixteenth, still going down Highland. There was a block, there was a—I passed a block, and then, half a block after that is when I got stopped.
Det. Kim Davis:So, he—this is Sixteenth. Did you get to the next street?
Sherry Ellis:Okay, hold on. This is Highland.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:I went right here. This is Sixteenth.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I crossed Sixteenth.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Down, still going down Highland.
Det. Kim Davis:And before the…
Sherry Ellis:Then there was another block. Okay…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I passed Sixteenth.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Kept on going. There was a block.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I passed that. Before I could get to the other block, in the middle.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. That’s when… okay. Let me kinda… Terrace to Highland, past Sixteenth, past next street, we don’t know what it is, before the next street. Okay, what happened? Did you—I mean, did he—what made—how’d you know a police car was there?
25:52
Sherry Ellis:I was walking.
Det. Kim Davis:Uh huh.
Sherry Ellis:And when I turned around, he—he had, he was, I guess he had come from behind me cause I wasn’t—I wasn’t…
Det. Kim Davis:You didn’t see him driving to you.
Sherry Ellis:I wasn’t paying attention to the back of me. I was just walking.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:So, I’m walking and then next thing I know, I—uh, uh, there’s lights behind me.
Det. Kim Davis:Like, car lights or…
Sherry Ellis:You know his lights.
Det. Kim Davis:Or, or these lights?
Sherry Ellis:Just, no.
Det. Kim Davis:Just headlights?
Sherry Ellis:Just, yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Behind me and then he pulled up and I—that’s when I realized that is was the police.
Det. Kim Davis:Cause you turned around?
Sherry Ellis:Cause I turned around, yeah, I turned around. Th—that’s when I f—found out it was the police.
Det. Kim Davis:Now, were his overhead lights on or anything? Just—you just saw that it was a police car.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, cause he…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Cause he pulled up behind me.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Like…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Then what?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, he asked me to, uh, stop. And, uh…
Det. Kim Davis:Was he in the car when he asked that? Or was he out of—did he…
Sherry Ellis:He got o—he, he, he pulled over and got out.
Det. Kim Davis:He got out?
Sherry Ellis:And, t—asked me, uh, what was my name, and, uh, I told him. And he said, ‘Well, can you come back here with me? Come back here for one second…’ S—talk to him. So, I was by the police car.
Det. Kim Davis:On the driver’s side or the passenger’s side?
Sherry Ellis:On his driver’s side. And uh, he asked me my name, like I said, and then, I had my purse and he asked me if I had anything illegal in my purse and I said ‘No.’ Which I didn’t. So, he’s like, ‘Well, is it, uh, is—is—will it be all right, uh, if, uh, I check you to see if you anything illegal on you.’ And I’m, like, ‘No.’ But, I wasn’t thinking—you don’t suppose to—I don’t think a man’s supposed to do that, but anyway.
27:34
Det. Kim Davis:But, did you say ‘No.’?
Sherry Ellis:I said, ‘No, I don’t have any.’
Det. Kim Davis:Or did you say, ‘No, I don’t care.’ What did…
Sherry Ellis:I said, ‘No, I don’t care.’
Det. Kim Davis:Oh, you said no—okay, okay. So, you said, ‘No, I don’t care.’
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. I didn’t know if you were saying ‘No, I don’t care’ or ‘No, you can’t check me’.
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Okay, go ahead.
Sherry Ellis:And then he, um, then, you know, he tu—he said, ‘Turn around.’ And I had my arms out and he checked me and…
Det. Kim Davis:Were your hands on the car or were you just standing like this?
Sherry Ellis:I was standing like this.
Det. Kim Davis:Kinda like a scarecrow? Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And, uh…
Det. Kim Davis:What did he do when he checked you?
Sherry Ellis:He checked me, and then he took, you know, he checked me all like that and…
Det. Kim Davis:Did he touch your boobs like that?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah. And then he, uh, went between my legs and did that. Like that.
Det. Kim Davis:Did what?
Sherry Ellis:Like that…
Det. Kim Davis:Did…
Sherry Ellis:Between my legs.
Det. Kim Davis:Just like that? So, did he touch your vagina on the outside of your pants?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he touch your bottom on the outside of your pants?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And, uh, he said, ‘Have a seat.’ So—and th—by that time he had opened the back of the police car door. And he told me to have a seat there. And, uh, I—I don’t know, I think I—I—I think I gave him my ID, cause I had my ID. So, he ran my ID.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he sh—shut the door when you got in the car?
Sherry Ellis:[deep breath]
Det. Kim Davis:Are you sitting in the back of the car with the door shut?
Sherry Ellis:Wait, hold on.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Just relax. If I go too fast, you tell me I’m going too fast.
Sherry Ellis:Um… [long pause]yes.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:He shut the door when I was in the back of the police car.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:He got back in the front seat.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And he started typing in his computer. My name.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Then, uh, he radioed and then, I guess, after a minute, they called back and said I had City warrants.
29:42
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:But while I was in the backseat, I’m looking at him pulling my information and stuff up.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:So, all my—everything that I’ve ever did is gonna be on that computer, so I see this. Okay, my prostitution charge was way back then. There…
Det. Kim Davis:Could you see that?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, I see it.
Det. Kim Davis:You saw where it said prostitute?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. I didn’t know if you could see the computer that well.
Sherry Ellis:Oh, yeah, i—in the back of the police car. But, uh, after a minute, they called—they—they hollered back at him and said, ‘She has some warrants. City warrants.’ Woo woo woo. For McAlister. Which I have warrants in M—city warrants in McAlister for tickets. And, uh, he got out the car, opened the door…
Det. Kim Davis:[inaudible]
Sherry Ellis:Where I was at, and he said, ‘Well, what do—what do you think we need to do about this?’ And, uh, I said, ‘What do you mean what do we need to do about this?’ And he said, ‘Well, what do you think we need to do about this situation? W—w—w—what do you think we need to do?’ And I was like, ‘What do you think—what do you mean what do we need to do about it?’ [Laughing]
Det. Kim Davis:[Laughing]
Sherry Ellis:‘Am I going to jail? Or am I not going to jail? Or are you taking me to jail? I mean, I don’t know what you—t—what—what you mean about what am I going—what are we gonna do about this?’ So, before I know it, h—he had pulled his thing out.
Det. Kim Davis:Did you even see him do that or was it just there?
Sherry Ellis:It was there. And, uh, it was just right—I’m sitting down in the backseat and it’s, like, right there.
Det. Kim Davis:Was it hard? Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And, he had—he asked me—he told me this what I—this what he want me to do.
Det. Kim Davis:What did—did he say, ‘This is what I want you to do’ or did he tell you what to do?
31:38
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Y—you—what were his words?
Sherry Ellis:He said, [pause] ‘Put this in your mouth for…’ He [exasperated sigh] he ma—practically just said here it is, put it in your mouth. Or, you know what I’m saying. Here. Okay, and then I did that for [sigh] three, maybe four minutes or something.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And then he said, uh, ‘Get ba—you wan—uh, g—get yo--put your feet back in.’
Det. Kim Davis:So, were you turned sideways where your feet were on the street?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, and he said, ‘Get back in.’ And he closed the door and he got in the police car and drove off. And drove, and hit the corner.
Det. Kim Davis:Point on here for me.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, this block right here th—by that time.
Det. Kim Davis:Hang on. I’m catching up with you. Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Oh yeah. This where I—he had stopped. Right here.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:This is the ot—this is the block that I didn’t get to.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Okay. This block, he got to—he—he went and drove, he hit this block.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:And then there’s a p—he went to the, to the right.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:There’s a park where the old school was. There’s a old school over there. There’s a park behind the school.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And he drove over the, uh, curb.
Det. Kim Davis:He drove over the curb?
Sherry Ellis:He drove over the curb going into the, into the, uh, playground. It’s a big old field, playground. Big old field. It’s a, couple of, of buildings there. And, uh, he drove and then he went around this other one building and he parked and he told me to get out and bend over.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Is that school still a school or is it vacant?
Sherry Ellis:It’s a vacant school. It’s off of Miramar and… Miramar and Highland. It’s be—it’s in between, uh, he know what the school, cause his momma stay there. He probably went to school there.
Det. Kim Davis:Who? The guy that brought you down here?
Sherry Ellis:He probably know exactly what the…
Det. Kim Davis:What’s his name? I forget.
33:51
Sherry Ellis:Ed.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. So, he told you to get out.
Sherry Ellis:He told me to get out.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he open the door?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:For you? Then what did—what happened after y—you stood up?
Sherry Ellis:He told me to, he told me to pull my pants down. Uh…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. What’d you say or do?
Sherry Ellis:I didn’t say nothing, ma’am.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, that’s fine. That’s okay. Did you pull your pants down?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, then what?
Sherry Ellis:Then he stuck his—then he had sex.
Det. Kim Davis:Well, what position are you in?
Sherry Ellis:I’m bent over. From the behind. From…
Det. Kim Davis:W—were you still at the car or were you…
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, well, I was, uh, I bent over by the car.
Det. Kim Davis:He…
Sherry Ellis:He opened the door. I got out. And I bent over.
Det. Kim Davis:Did…
Sherry Ellis:And facing the car.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he tell you to bend over?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Or how did he?
Sherry Ellis:He told me to bend over.
Det. Kim Davis:So, he said, ‘Pull your pants down…’
Sherry Ellis:And, ‘Bend over.’
Det. Kim Davis:And, ‘And bend over’?
Sherry Ellis:Yes. And I was facing the car.
Det. Kim Davis:Were any part of your body touching the car while you were bent over? I mean, were you kind of leaning on it or no or…
Sherry Ellis:I might have been leaning on it. [Sigh]
Det. Kim Davis:It’s okay.
Sherry Ellis:I tried to put this behind me.
Det. Kim Davis:I know.
Sherry Ellis:[Crying]
Det. Kim Davis:I know. I don’t have any—do you want me to go get you some Kleenex? Some tissue? It sucks. I know it’s hard to talk about. Just take your time. If you want something to drink, tell me, I’ll go get you something.
Sherry Ellis:[strained] I—I think, um…
Det. Kim Davis:If you don’t know, you don’t know. And tell me, ‘I don’t remember.’ It’s okay not to remember. It’s okay. We’re just gonna put that. I didn’t know if he, like, took you to the merry-go-round or the teeter-totter…
Sherry Ellis:Oh, unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:Or, you know?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh. Mm.
35:51
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Um... but then, um…
Det. Kim Davis:Let me ask you some, some yucky questions. You said he did it. Did he put it in your vagina or your bottom?
Sherry Ellis:He put it in my vagina.
Det. Kim Davis:What—did he have problems keeping it erect or anything?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he wear a condom?
Sherry Ellis:I don’t even know.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he come?
Sherry Ellis:I don’t even know.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Did he say anything while he was having sex with you?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:He didn’t say any—a word?
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:How long do you think that lasted?
Sherry Ellis:Um, about ten minutes.
Det. Kim Davis:What do you think made him stop?
Sherry Ellis:Um, I guess, I guess cause he had enough. I don’t know.
Det. Kim Davis:Did he just stop? Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:What happened after he stopped?
Sherry Ellis:He said, ‘Have a nice night.’ And let me walk away.
Det. Kim Davis:He walked away or you did?
Sherry Ellis:He ha—he said, ‘Have a nice night’ and let me walk.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. What’d you—where’d you go?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, [sigh] I went back to the house.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. And is that when you told Terry. What did he say?
Sherry Ellis:Um, he told me, um, I should go and turn him in. And he said that, um, i—i—i—since he did that to me, he, he supposed to—he should—he probably has, uh, DNA and stuff on me, but I had—I had been—I had be—I had been messing with him.
Det. Kim Davis:And you didn’t wanna tell Terry that?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, but I did. I told him. I—that’s when, uh, a hell we—hell broke loose.
Det. Kim Davis:Oh.
Sherry Ellis:Cause I had to tell him that I had had sex before that happened to me. So, like I said, me and Terry had been…
Det. Kim Davis:Is that what caused ya’ll to break up?
37:59
Sherry Ellis:[sigh] Me and Terry has—had been through problems—has been going through some things for a minute, but I had, I—I—like I said, I been with—had been with Terry, before I got with him, I had been with Terry for thirteen d—almo—a long, long, long, long time. Me and Terry has been together since I was twenty years old. So, it’s—it—that’s—that’s kinda hard for me now. I’m dealing with that situation, me and him breaking him af—two months ago. Tw—maybe two and a half months now I ain’t been with Terry. But I still keep in contact with him. He’s the one that gave me the number…
Det. Kim Davis:Oh.
Sherry Ellis:That you was looking for me and stuff. And that’s—and told me, you know what I’m saying, everything would be all right, just you know. He figured it was gonna be something. But yeah, I went and told Terry and he said, ‘Well it wouldn’t be no good for you to go, uh, to the hospital having two DNAs in you because you’d have to answer questions. And, uh, I said, ‘Well, okay,’ and then I thought about, like this… This the police. If I say something, I’ll be harassed for the, uh, for the whole duration. I don’t wanna have to walk down the street. I don’t have to look—wanna have to look—every time I look around somebody harassing me over something because of what I did. Because I don’t know noth—I didn’t know—I really don’t—didn’t know what, what to do. Really I—because it’s the police.
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:This the first thing that.... This the first thing that has ever happened to me like that so it kinda made—it kinda messed me up a little bit. But I was…
Det. Kim Davis:Well, sure.
Sherry Ellis:I was just trying…
Det. Kim Davis:Cause the police aren’t supposed to do that. And then who, who do—you tell the police who are they gonna believe?
Sherry Ellis:Well, like I said, um, what I’m saying is true, and if I have to I’ll take a lie detector test.
Det. Kim Davis:No.
Sherry Ellis:I just wan…
Det. Kim Davis:Sherry. I believe you. If I didn’t believe you, I wouldn’t have been calling you trying to find you. Do you know anybody by the name of Terry Morris? Female.
40:08
Sherry Ellis:Um… see, the point about it is I have a lot of, uh, associates that I—I really don’t know…
Det. Kim Davis:That you don’t know that you know [laughing].
Sherry Ellis:Yeah. Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:That’s okay, off the top of your head, do you know anybody by the name of Terry Morris.
Sherry Ellis:No. I—I—I kinda, the, the name sound familiar but I…
Det. Kim Davis:What about Jannie Ligons?
Sherry Ellis:[sigh] Unh uh. I don’t know them by name. That’s the whole point.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. That’s fine. That’s fine.
Sherry Ellis:That’s how I don’t how somebody would know my name.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Let me ask you this. You give me. Tell me your description of him.
Sherry Ellis:He’s black.
Det. Kim Davis:He’s b—okay, he’s a black male.
Sherry Ellis:Muscular.
Det. Kim Davis:Muscular. How tall, could you tell?
Sherry Ellis:Oh, let me see.
Det. Kim Davis:You’re pretty tall. How tall are you?
Sherry Ellis:[Sigh] Maybe, is it that?
Det. Kim Davis:How tall are you?
Sherry Ellis:Five eleven.
Det. Kim Davis:Was he taller than you or shorter than you?
Sherry Ellis:He was, like, right here, maybe. Like that.
Det. Kim Davis:So, you think he’s shorter than you.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Did he have any facial hair? You can sit down.
Sherry Ellis:Uh… [laughing] [inaudible]
Det. Kim Davis:If you don’t know, you don’t know.
Sherry Ellis:Umm…
Det. Kim Davis:Glasses?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:No glasses?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:And when you say he’s muscular, how much would you, like, big muscular?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, like work out. Like, he wasn’t fat, but, like, he worked out.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Did you see his penis? Did you pay attention? You know, like, when it was right in your face.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, it was long.
Det. Kim Davis:Was it circumcised? Could you tell? It was?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Could you see any pubic hair?
Sherry Ellis:No, he, he unzipped it, uh, from his pants.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:He didn’t take—he didn’t take belts and all that off or nothing like that.
Det. Kim Davis:He didn’t take his gun belt off or anything?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
42:08
Det. Kim Davis:[long pause] Did he threaten you in any way of if you tell…
Sherry Ellis:He didn’t.
Det. Kim Davis:Nothing?
Sherry Ellis:No.
Det. Kim Davis:What kind of car did he have?
Sherry Ellis:A black and white one.
Det. Kim Davis:A black and white car.
Sherry Ellis:Oklahoma City Police car.
Det. Kim Davis:Have you seen him since then?
Sherry Ellis:I try not to ma’am. After that happened, after night falls I’m in the house. I don’t—I don’t walk around. I don’t—I—I wasn’t trying to see him anymore. I just took myself in after certain time of the day, I put, go in the house.
Det. Kim Davis:Yeah.
Sherry Ellis:And I don—if I don’t have my stuff from the store by that time, I’m not trying to go to the store.
Det. Kim Davis:Cause you’re afraid he might find you again?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, I—I, w—I didn’t know. Yeah, I didn’t know w—if it was gonna happen. I don’t want it to happen again. I didn’t know. Cause he patrol—he had to be patrolling the east side like that for him to just b—be like that, cause he’s… [deep breath] I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I just stopped walking at night time.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I don’t know.
Det. Kim Davis:Would you kn—recognize him if you saw him again? Like, if I laid out six pictures, could you pick him out?
Sherry Ellis:Probably not.
Det. Kim Davis:Did you ever look at his name tag?
Sherry Ellis:No, I didn’t look at anything.
Det. Kim Davis:How come? I mean, and I’m not questioning.
Sherry Ellis:Um..
Det. Kim Davis: I’m trying to figure out what’s going through your mind.
Sherry Ellis:I don’t… I di—I don’t know.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:I just didn’t.
Det. Kim Davis:That’s fine. That’s fine. Um…
Sherry Ellis:That’s what everybody else ask me, why [sigh] I don’t know.
Det. Kim Davis:It’s okay. It’s okay.
Sherry Ellis:Cause I—I, like I said, I tried to put this in the back of my mind.
Det. Kim Davis:I know.
Sherry Ellis:Cause I didn’t believe they—I didn’t say nothing and I just thought it would go away.
Det. Kim Davis:And then I called you.
Sherry Ellis:Yes.
44:09
Det. Kim Davis:Did you have any idea when I call—when you found out I was looking for you?
Sherry Ellis:Mm… at first, no. And then, um, Terry said this was something dealing with sexual, uh, sexual, and, I said well that’s the only thing it could be. Somebody done said something, told—said something about my name, or something like that, cause I know I didn’t say nothing, so… that’s the only thing, cause I paid my fines, so I won’t go back to the penitentiary. And my, uh, tickets, I still ain’t took care of them.
Det. Kim Davis:I’m not worried about those.
Sherry Ellis:Okay. But I still ain’t took care of them.
Det. Kim Davis:That’s fine.
Sherry Ellis:But until I get to, uh, s—where I can ge—in a motel room paying two hun—two hundred every week is kinda killing me right now. You know what I’m saying?
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:And I don’t ha—I’m going to school and it’s—I have to struggle for that two hundred dollars so the fines right now, I’m, I, when I was s—supposed to went to court I was in the penitentiary so if they do pi…
Det. Kim Davis:Are they Oklahoma City fines or the McAlister fines?
Sherry Ellis:They Oklahoma City fin—I got Oklahoma City fines that…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:But, but if I do go to jail, I wasn’t—I was in the penitentiary, so…
Det. Kim Davis:So, they went to warrant cause you weren’t in court.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, but I was in the penitentiary…
Det. Kim Davis:Right.
Sherry Ellis:So, how could I go to court if I was in the penitentiary? So, uh, that’ll help me out a little bit. And then I can get a payment plan. Maybe I can go from there with the fines. But far as the County, I don’t have no felony warrants or nothing like that, cause I ain’t—I been doing real, real good, far as that.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Well, let me, let me tell you this. I want to get a DNA sample from you today. And the reason I want to get a DNA sample is because I know what officer did this to you, okay? And there is some unknown female DNA on his pants that I took and I wanna see if it’s yours.
Sherry Ellis:Well this, this happened four months ago to me.
Det. Kim Davis:I know. But you never know. He might be nasty and not wash his clothes [laughing] you know?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Do you have a problem with that?
Sherry Ellis:Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. [papers shuffling] This is a waiver saying that you are gonna let me, Kim Davis, and I’m a detective and this is where we’re located, are gonna let me take buccal swabs. It’s just Qtips on the inside of your mouth. To get a DNA sample so I can compare it to the DNA on his pants. Okay?
Sherry Ellis:Yes, ma’am.
46:37
Det. Kim Davis:Sign right here. You got good handwriting. Especially for a lefty, usually we’re kinda sloppy.
Sherry Ellis:[Laughing]
Det. Kim Davis:[papers shuffling] I’m gonna do two on one side and then two on the other side, okay?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm. I was asking my friend, I was like, all this is coming down, am I gonna—do—should I be scared to move around and h—have to worry about him, getting, something happening to me, and…
Det. Kim Davis:Sherry, he’s not in a police car anymore. Okay? He’s—he’s not working anymore.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:He—you can walk down the street. He’s not out there. Okay.
Sherry Ellis:They said after this is all over I’ll have closure. I sure hope so.
Det. Kim Davis:Who said that?
Sherry Ellis:My friends. Telling me to get…
Det. Kim Davis:I’ll talk to you a little bit about that too.
Sherry Ellis:Telling me to get it off my chest and…
Det. Kim Davis:I’m gonna give you my card. I’m gonna offer you free counseling if you want it. And I’ll do whatever I can to help you get closure, okay? [long pause and shuffling noises] Do you have any questions? I’m gonna go—you know the Lieutenant brought you up here? Let me go talk to him real quick and make sure that he doesn’t have any more questions for me to ask you.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, well, I’ma ask you a question
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
48:33
Sherry Ellis:Uh, like I said, I’ve—I’ve had—I been having—uh, I’ve had—having a rough time right now.
Det. Kim Davis:Because of this or just…
Sherry Ellis:No, just because, I’m not with Terry.
Det. Kim Davis:Financially?
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:So, I’ve been paying my fine every month. But, this, this month I’m gonna have—I’m gonna be a little late. Do you think that they gonna issue a warrant for my arrest?
Det. Kim Davis:On which fine?
Sherry Ellis:On…
Det. Kim Davis:On the traffic tickets?
Sherry Ellis:My, s—my fines that I have to pay, that I been paying fifty dollars every, uh…
Det. Kim Davis:Court fines or whatever. Or is it…
Sherry Ellis:From after I went to the penitentiary.
Det. Kim Davis:Restitution? Do you know what your fines are for?
Sherry Ellis:I have to pay fifty dollars every month. I’m on probation.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:After I got out the penitentiary. I been paying fifty—ever since I got out in July, I been paying fifty dollars, fifty dollars. This is the first month…
Det. Kim Davis:Who’s your probation officer?
Sherry Ellis:I don’t have a probation officer.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:It’s unsupervised.
Det. Kim Davis:Is it through Oklahoma County?
Sherry Ellis:Uh, yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Let me, uh, tomorrow… cause they’re closed, I will call and find out what we can do.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay?
Sherry Ellis:Even I can just come up with, like, maybe twenty dollars or something.
Det. Kim Davis:I’ll call and find out what we can do.
Sherry Ellis:Okay, and just let me, let me know and, and, and, I’ll try to come up with it. But I’m late.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:But I usually send it off on the third. This is the fifth.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:And I don’t want—I—I—I’m worried about that right now.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay.
Sherry Ellis:Cause I have to figure out if I can—have to go to my grandma or my, my momma, my, uh, anie, or somebody. Somebody have to help me cause right now…
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, I will—I’ll get an answer for you. Um, would you be willing to drive me to the area where he… I wanna know where he pulled his car.
50:10
Sherry Ellis:Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. All right, stay here for just a minute.
Sherry Ellis:You wanna jus—you wanna go right now?
Det. Kim Davis:Mm hmm.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:But hang out. Let me make sure nobody else has any questions.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay?
Sherry Ellis:Um, just make sure—I just have to let my friend, uh, uh, follow us.
Det. Kim Davis:That’s fine.
Sherry Ellis:Cause he, like I say, he stay right around the corner.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, hang on just a second. I’ma leave the door open so you kinda don’t get claustrophobic.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
[Footsteps and shutting door]
Host:At this point Detective Davis steps out of the room for approximately two minutes and fifty seconds.
[Shutting door and footsteps]
Det. Kim Davis:One more question. When you described him as a black male, what… and I don’t know, everybody’s—like, what i—are you? Are you a medium color? What’s your skin tone to you?
Sherry Ellis:Mm… I’m light.
Det. Kim Davis:You’re light. Okay, what was he?
Sherry Ellis:He’s darker.
Det. Kim Davis:He’s darker than you?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Darker than your skin tone?
Sherry Ellis:Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay. Um, so you’re comfortable, cause I know you’re a nervous wreck. What if you go with Ed, and we follow you to—doesn’t—didn’t you say he lives right around the corner? And then, we’ll follow you there, then you get in our car, show us where the officer picked you up, and then show us the school, and then we’ll drop you back off at Ed’s.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:You com—comfortable doing that? Are ya’ll parked right in front of the building?
Sherry Ellis:We’re on the side, I think.
Det. Kim Davis:Okay, let’s, let’s, let me get, let me get you with Ed.
Sherry Ellis:Okay.
Det. Kim Davis:And let me get our stuff so we don’t get lost.
Sherry Ellis:Yeah, that’s my support group. That’s my support right there.
Det. Kim Davis:Turn right. I’m gonna, I think he’s over here. [footsteps and voice fading] No, he’s not. I bet he went to the break room. [laughing]
[RECORDING ENDS]
51:52
Host:Immediately following this meeting, detectives Davis and Gregory took Sherry Ellis in their car to retrace Ellis and Holtzclaw’s route. According to police records, Detective Gregory took thirty-five photos during this time. That said, much like when Terry Morris was also taken to point out alleged crime scene locations, neither detectives bothered to audio record what must have been in depth conversations about their allegations. A few days later, the investigators received copies of Daniel Holtzclaw’s patrol car AVL and radio dispatch history from his May 7, 2014, encounter with Ellis. And like Ellis’ description of her attacker, a “short black man,” Holtzclaw’s AVL reveals problems with Ellis’ allegations that detectives are apparently far too eager to dismiss. I’ve posted copies of the police reports from this episode, Sherry Ellis’ telephone conversation with Detective Davis, her audio and video recorded in-person meeting with Davis, and a copy of the photos taken at this episode’s homepage at holtzclawtrial.com.
53:12
In the next episode, I will be discussing additional information received by investigators, courtroom testimony, and my take on what may have actually taken place during the early morning hours of May 7, 2014. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and give us a five star review. If you would like to know more and see many of the files used to compile this episode, please visit this season’s homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. You can also follow updates on our Facebook page at In Defense of Daniel Holtzclaw, or on Twitter @HoltzclawTrial.
Bates Investigates - Season One: the Daniel Holtzclaw case is researched, produced, and edited by me, Brian Bates. This has been a bug stomper production.
[child singing] Huh? [squishing sound] [laughing] Bugs!