13. Between the Lines

Previously On Ice Cold Case

Why would they still take him all the way to Grand Jury?
That’s a good question.
They give me all kinds of charges, but they can never make it stick.
The reason why I reached out is because I know, I know he didn’t do it.
That voice still sticks in my head. 
He had a look on him that I could tell… he had nothing to do with it.
That’s the problem with the Ohio Valley girl. It is so freaking corrupt.
I been portrayed as a monster on record and on file. So that’s why it’s easy to demonize me and shit and give me something like “oh, this fits his demeanor and character.”
For real. For real. Put a little more focus on the initial police report. 
I'm going to find out.
I want you to find out

Part 0: What Am I Missing?

This investigation has become even more overwhelming than I anticipated. Expectations don’t always match reality, but now I’m starting to feel defeated. I keep having to go back to the starting line to explore new theories or a curveball completely changes my direction. It’s all necessary, but I keep asking myself how many more times will I have to start from scratch.

Talking with Daryl Smith, the police’s main suspect, certainly illuminated a lot. And even though it is seemingly sending me backwards, the information he has provided could really shake this up.

I need to analyze what these case files say, what the police told me when I sat down with them, and identify the discrepancies and gaps between the two versions. This is going to get really detailed. There’s information you will learn about now that I previously didn’t share from these files because I was trying to keep this high level and as easy to track as possible. I have gone through this file time and time again, but now I have more information and more context. So let’s try this again, but this time I’m going to read between the lines.

I think you have enough background information now to follow along as I get into the very granular details of this case.

Now I just have to figure out – what am I missing?

Part 1: A Breakdown

My first contact with the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department was in May of 2020. I finally received a redacted file on January 25, 2021 from the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office. The Ohio Uniform Incident Report was sent via email. It was a 36 page report. I wasn’t sure how large of a file I was expecting to receive, but I figured it would be longer than 36 pages for a case that had as many complexities as this. With nearly twenty years to investigate and gather information, I assumed that there would be a lot more to this. When I went to the Sheriff’s Department six months later to talk with Detective DeVaul face-to-face, he made it sound like they had a lot of information tucked away.

And Detective Allar we have all the files and everything it’s in a box like this.

But DeVaul also told me that he had given me everything.

But with Daryl and what the prosecutor’s office gave you and what I can answer for you… And believe me I’ve given you everything I can.

So do I have all the information – all 36 pages worth? Or is there more in this big filing cabinet that I don’t have access to? I understand not sharing information when it is an open, active investigation. But until I called the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department in 2020, was anyone actively investigating this case?

A few months after I received the Belmont County incident report, I was additionally given access to the 9-1-1 call transcripts, the Bridgeport Police Department’s report, and all the witness testimony transcripts and written statements.

There still wasn’t much to this file. But I worked with what I had. Now that I am going back through everything I am reminded of the frustration I felt when I opened that initial email and whispered under my breath, “that’s all they have?”

You know what we have are some notes that are theoretically not a public record.

So it might not be all they have. But it’s all they gave me. 

So as you listen, I want you to understand what I am working with. I have a 36-page Belmont County Incident Report, a one-page Bridgeport Police Department report, two 9-1-1 call transcripts, 14 voluntary written statements, an autopsy from Licking County, and 19 witness testimony transcripts.

I spoke with Detective DeVaul once and the Belmont County Prosecutor's Office once, both in person in June of 2021. And in April of 2023, I spoke via video call with Belmont County’s current Lead Investigator Detective Allar one time. Detective Allar will publicly say that I have reignited this investigation.

The Sheriff’s office is very grateful that Ms. McGhee reached out to us and included us in her endeavors for shedding some light on this case and I personally feel this is the shot in the arm that this case needed to regain some momentum.

Where is the momentum? They haven’t been in touch. Nothing new has come from their office. I can’t help but assume they wanted to give me enough information that they thought would satisfy my curiosity. But that’s not enough. Welcome to the deep dive.

The first place to begin is the home invasion next door at my dad’s sister’s house. That is what starts this strange series of events that ends in my dad getting a single kill shot to the head. The home invasion seems more and more bizarre every time I think about this case. Nothing about it adds up. But it’s the natural starting point if I’m going to try to see this all from a new angle.

As I’m reading through all of this… again – I have two things going through my mind: What does Omar know? And why, with other motives clearly present, do the police think that the killer is Daryl Smith?

Part 2: “Home Invasion Gone Wrong”

Everything starts with this home invasion. According to the Bridgeport Police report, Bridgeport PD was contacted to assist Belmont County Sheriff’s Department on Berkeley Avenue where someone had been shot. Bridgeport PD was first on the scene. They went to Omar and Pearl’s house first. It says a woman was at the door when they walked in – I assume this is Kim Smith – and that another woman was still sitting on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. I assume that is my aunt, Pearl Foston. The Bridgeport Police report notes that they were told by one of the females in the house that four men broke into the house that morning.

We heard a big loud bang. Like – and I guess that’s when he was kicking in the door. Like they had on masks and hoodies. And they turned. They pulled the switch and that’s when they started screaming and they had shotguns. 
I was laying down. They put a blanket over me but I could still feel the gun from the side of the thing.

The Belmont County Incident report starts the same – Home invasion. Four black males entered, all were armed. Belmont County notes that there were marks on Kim’s wrist indicating she was tied up with phone cords and Pearl was still tied up when the police arrived.

And I know laying there, I was tied up but I wasn’t tied that tight where after I didn’t hear any noise or anything, I jumped up and I ran into the kitchen and I hit the alarm. Because they had a house alarm. But I still kept on running and I got back underneath the blankets because I thought that they was still around.

But Omar wasn’t in the house when any police unit arrived. In the Belmont County report, it’s noted that Omar appears after they had cleared my dad’s house. He was coming from the direction of Wheeling Brake and Block saying he was going to “get them for doing this” – I assume he meant the home invasion since according to Omar he didn’t know my dad was shot because he wasn’t there. 

“The house had been ransacked” – it’s there in the file. It would be quite the conspiracy if that didn’t happen at all and Omar, Kim, Pearl, Bridgeport Police, and Belmont County all came together to fabricate that someone had gone through the house. But who, why, and if anyone inside the house was aware of what was going on are not as obvious.

Pearl describes waking up in the middle of the night to Omar tapping her and she saw a black man with a shotgun pointed at Omar. Pearl’s first description stated that he had a gray sweatshirt on and the hood pulled up. The man asked Pearl for money, walked them into the living room, and kicked her down. They were then tied up, laying face down, and one of the men said “burn them.” Pearl asked who they were and they told her *overlay this with Austin’s voice* “the Midwest Task Force.” Pearl says she wasn’t sure if they tied up Omar or not but that they kept telling him to “come with us” and they asked “how many are next door?” assumingly about my dad’s house.

It was a distraction, I guess from Omar saying that the money is over there.

Omar is the next person to speak with the detectives. Now he says there were 3 black men there wearing all black, no gray. Already the stories are not aligning – between witness encounters but also between different reports within the police file.

When Kim is interviewed at 3:44 in the afternoon, nearly nine hours after it happened, she also tells the detectives that there were 3 black men all wearing black. She described being tied up with the phone cords but said that the men called themselves the “west side task force.” She said when she heard the gunshot next door she broke free and hit the panic alarm at the house.  Omar, Pearl, and Kim all mentioned the use of radios.

Only thing I could hear was they was talking on some type of radio. I remember it was like two way radio or some type of radio.

The next day there is a note that DeVaul made in the file: I was advised to fax a request to Nextel for information in reference to any possible phone calls made on the two Nextel phones in evidence. A court subpoena for those records is later mentioned. I was not given a call log or Nextel record, nor was one mentioned in any conversation with the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department.

The file states that they took into evidence the phone cords that Kim, Omar, and Pearl were tied up with. It also mentions that they seized my dad’s wallet, keys, and two cell phones. I’m taking a mental note of that… where is that evidence? Lack of evidence feels like a main reason that this case isn’t closed.

I’ve said before the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department continues to say there’s not enough evidence to convict anybody.

Detective Allar says they have to rely on evidence to solve this case –

One of the reasons we’re doubling down on, going back and dealing with things that are solid and can’t be lied about you know direct evidence.

I’m still hopeful that there is physical evidence somewhere. I’m hopeful that there is information I just don’t have access to that can connect the dots I’m starting to place. But even the outline of this story, the basic facts, don’t add up.

This home invasion still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Between the people who were physically in the house and the investigation efforts, it feels like there is a lot of information being withheld and no one is trying very hard to uncover the truth.

The police… didn’t investigate very good.

The observation I’m left with after this home invasion is this: these guys were in there for approximately thirty minutes, and no one was physically harmed. They were at my dad’s house for thirty seconds, and he was shot dead.

Part 3: The Shooting

Of all the events that transpired that morning, the shooting was the quickest. It’s the least complicated to understand. They came up the steps, kicked in the front door, shot my dad, and left. The context is what makes this so intricate – the who and the why are the biggest question marks.

According to the police file, my dad’s front door had three kick marks on it. My dad’s feet were towards the front door, his head towards the back door, and he was lying on his back. And according to the Coroner, the entrance wound was in the front of his head, and the exit wound was in the back.

Because I could hear what they were saying. I was laying there. We was still covered up and they drug him out and he was with them. I guess that was his way to try to escape when he went over there.

The guys took Omar outside with them, but it’s not clear whether Omar was with them when they shot my dad or already running away. And that answer could unlock how much Omar really knows about who was there and why my dad was shot.

What we’ve always felt was this was a home invasion set after Omar. 
I think they were planning on doing a second home invasion. On their end it went to shit. And boom – and then they ran.

The official report is a home invasion gone wrong – my dad was never meant to die but he was reaching for a gun so they shot him.

They shouldn’t have even been at your dad’s house.

But if they were there to kill my dad, it wouldn’t matter if he was reaching for a gun or not, he was going to die. If Omar was standing there, he would know what my dad was doing and what he said before he was killed. 

Either way, whether he was on my dad’s front porch or not, he ran… but he didn’t run back to his house where his mother and girlfriend were tied up. He ran down the street, to call 9-1-1. But first, my sister, from inside the house, made contact with the dispatch.

Part 4: 9-1-1 Calls

Belmont County 911, what’s your emergency?
I’m at 5 —
What’s going on?
My dad just got shot – I don’t know who it was –
Someone’s been shot down there – What’s going on, somebody got shot?
My dad got shot –
By – by who?
I don’t know

My sister called 9-1-1 at 6:41am on July 11, 2002. 

This is the part that was uncomfortable to read – the police file notes that my sister watched our dad take his last breath laying on the floor with a bullet in his head. No child should ever have to see that. She was freshly sixteen. And in that moment, as much growing up and she had to do early in her life, this moment made Alyssa an adult. I so badly wish this is where the nightmare ended for her, but it was just beginning. Nearly twenty-two years later, and she still doesn’t know who kicked in her front door and shot her dad while she was sleeping down the hallway. 

Omar called 9-1-1 at 6:44am. In this call he mentioned 3 guys, a black van, California plates, a hostage situation with his mom and his girlfriend. He doesn’t mention guns shots, a murder, or any shots fired at him.

Belmont County 911, do you have an emergency?
Uh, yeah my neighbor says he’s being robbed right now, we’re at the end of Berkeley Avenue here in Boydsville.
Yeah, we have people going down there now –
Yeah –
Hey, is it the McGhee’s?
They got my mom – They got my mom and my girl – They got my mom and my girl –
I’ve got another 911 call – Ok – who
There’s three dudes – if you don’t hurry up, they’re going to kill them.
Ok, we’ve already got a number of people – what’s your name?
Omar
Omar, do you know who it is?
Yeah
Who is it?

Part 5: Omar’s Wardrobe Change

Omar ran to Wheeling Brake and Block – the business at the end of the dead end road – to make that 9-1-1 call a few minutes after my dad was shot.

Barbara Marlin is an eye witness that saw Omar running through the woods and identified what he was wearing when he made that call.

Ok I understand this morning – you saw Omar Foston?
Um-hmmm
Ok. Where did you see him exactly? I take it – you probably saw him twice then – when you went into Wheeling Brake and Block and then when you dropped your son off –
He was gone
You only saw him when you were going in?
You know where the factory is? And he was like right there running and I went in, you know, I waved to him. I went on in because I was real upset because I’d seen cops up at J.C.’s house – with guns.
He was like in a black silk boxer underwear. No t-shirt on, just like the boxer underwear and he was running. Well, the cops were parked at his –
J.C.’s driveway?
No they were parked – like, where Omar lives.
Yeah like from the gate – not – I don’t know. I don’t even – to me, it didn’t look like he was coming from the Brake and Block place.
And when I left my son off and then I went back, I didn’t see him nowhere and I mean – he looked like he was worried – or – you know, he had a real funny look on his face when he was running – because I mean, he was booking. He wasn’t just jogging.

Barbara saw Omar wearing nothing but black boxer briefs. According to the police file, when the police first saw Omar they documented that he was wearing blue and yellow shorts and a tank top.

Part 6: Wheeling Brake and Block

Four days after the murder, the police went down to Wheeling Brake and Block at the end of the street to talk to some of the employees. One of them handed Omar the phone that he used to call 9-1-1. He confirms to police that Omar had shorts on, but no shirt when he got to the shop.

Another employee said that he did not want to give any information about himself for fear of the suspects retaliating. But he did say that when he drove into work, he saw two black cars at the bottom of my dad’s hill at around 6:25 in the morning. One was a Lincoln, and one was a Cadillac. And one of them turned around in front of the shop a few moments before the police arrived.

 9-1-1 was probably called, if my memory serves me, because I called too. The car came down and made it’s turn and went back up our dirt road which would make J.C.’s house to the right and they’re hauling ass out and here comes Omar across the field. Now he has only came down to the plant maybe two or three or four times maybe, you know, wanna bum some wood or you know from our skids or and he come in there and he’s panting … Call 9-1-1. Call 9-1-1. Call 9-1-1. I said “what’s wrong?” He said, “they – they shot J.C.” So as I got on the phone to call 9-1-1, 9-1-1 said they already got a call and that they were dispatching. Right at that time Omar and I are standing on the front porch of Brake Block and if you look up to the left of yourself, you’ll see Interstate 70. Here comes Sheriff cars. Three guys in the black car. Passenger. One on the uh passenger side rear and the driver. All three of them were black guys. I wanna say it was a Lincoln Continental. I can vision the car coming down my dirt road while I’m standing on the front porch of Brake Block.

Part 7: Unturned Stones

I’m halfway through the police file and Daryl was right – there’s a lot of discrepancies, some that are completely ignored. According to the file, Pearl and Kim first said there were four men there. Then they said three. Pearl’s account has one of them wearing a gray sweatshirt. Later, it has them all wearing black. Omar’s wardrobe change isn’t questioned at all. The list goes on and on. There’s so many weird circumstances that the police don’t look into. There’s so many theories that are left unaddressed. There’s so many people with motives that are above suspicion.

I don’t think the people in Saint Clairsville investigating it wanted to know. Maybe it had something to do with them.

While my dad being an informant is mentioned only a couple times in the file, it doesn’t seem like that is heavily considered when they are trying to identify a motive.

But believe me every stone that we come on, was turned.

It seems like a lot of stones were unturned. 

Negligence and involvement are different. If the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department had something to do with my dad’s murder, directly, that’s going to be difficult to prove. But their negligence is evident. There’s still a lot more in this file to unpack and a long list of people mentioned – all with direct links to my dad. I don’t think this was random, so I have to analyze that list. Of the people who knew my dad, who would have wanted him dead?

It was an inside job. That’s what everyone always said. It was an inside job.

Next Time on Ice Cold Case

When they took Omar – that is the big key. They took Omar outside what was said?
He said that he was tied up and they were asking for money. 
You’re stepping on shit, Madison McGhee. And they don’t want any splatter.

Credits:

Ice Cold Case is brought to you by Yes!
It is written, hosted, and produced by Madison McGhee
Also produced by Jeremy Benbow
Mixed by Cody Campbell 
Original music by Matt Bettinson
Creative direction by AJ Christianson
Creative consulting by Hoff
A video version of this episode is available on our YouTube Channel and a transcript is available at icecoldcase.com
To submit any tips or information please email us at icecoldcasepodcast@gmail.com