MCS-28
The Case of the Cemetery Robbery
On July 31, 1997, Bobby Gene Banfield was 57 years old. He had worked for the City of Cape Girardeau Parks Department for 31 years. His job was to mow the grass and take care of the grounds at the Old Lorimier Cemetery. Even though he was slightly handicapped in that he had a speech impediment in the form of a severe stutter, he was a reliable employee who never missed work and was good at his job. Bobby Gene Banfield, never married, lived alone in the house he had lived in with his mother until her death.
Bobby Gene Banfield often carried a large amount of cash on his person and made no secret of it. In fact, it was common knowledge that he often had a large amount of cash on him.
On the morning of July 31, 1997, at 6:15, a.m., Bobby Gene Banfield's day started out like any other. He left his home for work on his bicycle. Like every other morning, his routine was to ride his bike to work. On tall hills he would have to get off and push it, but he followed his normal route from his home to the Old Lorimier Cemetery.
The Old Lorimier Cemetery is ten blocks from Bobby Gene Banfield's home. The well-kept cemetery is on a tall hilltop in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, overlooking the vast flowing waters of the Mississippi River. It is the resting place of Louis Lorimier, the founder of Cape Girardeau.
On July 31, 1997, Bobby got to the cemetery around 6:30 a.m. and opened one gate to the cemetery (the one at the entrance at the intersection of Fountain and Washington streets) and then pushed his bike to the second entrance, which is reached by going down a gravel road to the gate at the South side of the cemetery.
As Bobby Gene Banfield approached the gate, two masked men leaped out of hiding places and pointed handguns at him. They both wore black clothes, with black masks over their faces. They forced him behind a concrete block building near the cemetery gate and demanded his money. They forced him to his knees at gunpoint. Bobby had $898 in his pocket, but he didn't tell them that. He claimed he only had change. In fact, he pulled out some change and a dirty handkerchief and told them it was all he had. They kept demanding money and threatening him. Both were pointing guns at him.
Suddenly, there was a boom. One of the masked men shot Bobby in the face. The bullet went in his left cheek, went through his head from left to right and came out his right cheek.
Both robbers fled, without getting any money from Bobby Gene Banfield.
Wounded, hurting and bleeding, Bobby stumbled to his bicycle and began pushing it home, hoping to find help or to get home and call the police. He knew he was badly wounded, but hoped to get help before losing consciousness.
After going about three blocks, a good neighbor who was out getting his newspaper saw Bobby and had him sit down as the neighbor called the police. Medical personnel arrived and Bobby was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The bullet missed his brain and his major arteries and he lived through the shooting.
With no immediate leads as to the identity of the masked robbers, the Major Case Squad was activated.
A two-day investigation ultimately revealed that the botched robbery was a conspiracy involving four people: Tyler Baine, age 28; Ivan Palmer, age 45; and two boys -- Terry Lee Gerlach (age 20) and Jonathan Betts (age 17). The conspiracy came to light after a person who heard about the attempted robbery on television contacted the Major Case Squad with a tip about the people involved.
It all began about two weeks before the robbery attempt. Tyler Baine was wanting money to get to Mexico. He and Ivan Palmer and Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts had been talking about different people they might be able to rob to get some quick money, and Betts mentioned that he had heard that Bobby Banfield, the groundskeeper at Old Lorimier Cemetery, carried lots of cash on him.
All four of them -- Tyler Baine, Ivan Palmer, Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts -- agreed that the robbery would take place.
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Tyler Baine |
Ivan Palmer |
Terry Gerlach |
They agreed that Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts would be the ones to actually confront Banfield at gunpoint and demand the money.
They agreed that Gerlach and Betts would wear masks and carry guns.
Tyler Baine supplied Terry Gerlach with the .22 revolver Gerlach would carry.
Tyler Baine took Gerlach & Betts to a gravel road in Illinois where the gun was test-fired to make sure it worked.
Tyler Baine supplied the ammunition for the gun Terry Gerlach carried.
Ivan Palmer was to drive the get-away car.
The four of them agreed that they would split the money after the robbery took place.
In the days leading up to the robbery, Jonathan Betts and Ivan Palmer drove by Banfield's house, noticing what time he left for work each morning. They found out that he would leave by bicycle about 6:15 a.m. and would arrive at the cemetery about 6:30 a.m. to open the gates.
On the early morning of Thursday, July 31, 1997, Ivan Palmer drove Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts to Bobbie Gene Banfield's house and they lay in wait in the car and watched him leave his house and head for work on his bicycle. They then drove to the Old Lorimier Cemetery, several blocks away. Palmer dropped off the two younger boys and told them where he would be waiting for them.
Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts were both dressed in black. Each wore black bandannas over his face -- one over the bottom half of the face and the other over the hair. They were both armed with guns. Gerlach with the one Baine had supplied and Betts with a .38 he had acquired sometime before.
Gerlach and Betts hid near a gate they knew Bobby Gene Banfield would be opening. It was in a secluded area. Gerlach hid behind a concrete block building and Betts hid behind a tree.
At about 6:30 a.m. Bobby Gene Banfield came up the gravel drive to this second gate. Gerlach and Betts, both wearing masks and flourishing guns, confronted him. They forced him behind a concrete block building. They demanded his money. They forced him to kneel down. He claimed he only had some change. As they were yelling at him, Bobby Gene Banfield said, "I'm going home," and started to stand up. Betts' gun went off, shooting Banfield in the left cheek. Both Betts and Gerlach immediately fled, without getting any money. They ran to the place were Ivan Palmer was waiting for them.
After the attempted robbery, while Bobby Gene Banfield was going for help, Palmer drove Gerlach and Betts away from the scene. Palmer dropped Betts off at the house on Linden Street where Palmer and Betts lived. Palmer drove Terry Gerlach to Tyler Baine's girlfriend's apartment on Pacific Street, where Baine was waiting for Gerlach. Gerlach and Tyler Baine were living together at the time, staying at Baine's mother's house on Louisiana Street.
Betts and Palmer got rid of the .38 Betts had used by having Betts toss it and the bandannas he wore into the Mississippi River.
Gerlach gave the .22 he used back to Tyler Baine, who took it to his mother's house on Louisiana Street. Gerlach removed the black clothing he had worn and left it and the bandannas at Tyler Baine's mother's house. Gerlach & Baine then went to work at a pallet company where they worked. They arrived at 7:30 a.m. as if nothing had happened.
All four of them -- Tyler Baine, Ivan Palmer, Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts -- were arrested on August 1, 1997. Baine was arrested at 5:00 a.m. at his mother's home. Gerlach was arrested outside Baine's mother's home at about 4:30 p.m. Palmer & Betts were arrested together at about 7:35 p.m.
Search warrants were issued to search Tyler Baine's mother's house and to search the house on Linden Street where Ivan Palmer and Jonathan Betts lived.
The search of Tyler Baine's mother's apartment took place at 7:28 p.m. on August 1, 1997. In that house, police found the gun identified by Terry Gerlach as the .22 he had used in the robbery. They also found the black shirt and black pants Gerlach wore during the robbery. They also found two bandannas and a large amount of .22 caliber ammunition.
The search of Ivan Palmer's residence took place at 10:22 on August 1, 1997. The house actually belonged to a third man. Ivan Palmer lived with one of the man’s daughters in one bedroom. Jonathan Betts lived with another of the man’s daughters in another bedroom. The police did not find much of anything in this house except a pair of latex gloves in the trash can in Bett's bedroom, but they did find a bandanna in Palmer's Ford Bronco, and an address book with the name Tyler on it in Palmer's Ford Bronco.
Terry Gerlach and Jonathan Betts confessed to being the two men behind the masks. They told about Baine's involvement in planning the robbery and supplying the .22 revolver.
An ex-girlfriend of Tyler Baine told investigators that a week or two before the robbery attempt Tyler Baine had told her that he and three of his friends (Ivan Palmer, Terry and Jonathan Betts) were planning to rob an man in the early morning hours while he was opening a cemetery in Cape Girardeau. Baine told her that the plan was that they would rob him at gunpoint while wearing face masks and black clothes, then put him into a shed and lock him in it. They then would go to the man's house and steal any money or valuables he had stashed in his house. Baine had told her he needed the money to get to Mexico. The ex-girlfriend broke up with Tyler Baine and kicked Baine and Gerlach out of her apartment shortly before the robbery attempt. That was why Baine had moved into his mother's house on Louisiana.
Betts, Gerlach and Palmer all pled guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Palmer was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Betts received 8 years for conspiracy and 5 years for assault; and Gerlach received a 15-year sentence, but it was suspended and he was placed on probation with numerous conditions.
Baine, the mastermind of the conspiracy, who had a criminal history that included other violent crimes, chose to take his case to trial. A Perry County jury found him guilty. On August 7, 1998, Circuit Judge John W. Grimm sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
