Shraman Mitra
The residents of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, witnessed a gruesome murder on January 7, 1997, when Barry Van Treese was beaten to death at a local motel. Although the police soon found themselves on the perpetrator’s trail, a surprise confession led to a sudden and complex twist in the investigation. ‘Killing Richard Glossip: This Is Pointing to Me’ chronicles the gruesome murder and shows how one of the accused still insists on his innocence.
How Did Barry Van Treese Die?
A resident of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Barry Van Treese was quite popular in his community. People who knew him described him as a generous and down-to-earth individual who always welcomed everyone with a smile and was a father of five with a loving family. Besides, Barry owned a local Inn, known as the Best Budget Inn, and the money he earned from his establishment was enough to fund his household. However, little did Barry know that his business place would end up being the scene of his death.
When law enforcement officials came across Barry’s body on January 7, 1997, they found him unconscious and collapsed on the floor inside his establishment. An initial medical examination was enough to declare him dead, and the police gathered that he might have been hit on the head with a heavy object. Later, an autopsy determined that Barry had died of blunt force trauma, and the police, through their investigation, affirmed that the perpetrator used a baseball bat as a murder weapon.
Who Killed Barry Van Treese?
The initial investigation into Barry Van Treese’s murder proved to be quite challenging as the police did not have any witnesses or proper leads to follow. Although law enforcement officials carried out a thorough search of the crime scene and sat down for several interviews with the victim’s acquaintances, they weren’t able to come up with a clue or lead. Detectives also combed through the local area, canvassing it for any witnesses, but no one came forward. Surprisingly, even the guests at the hotel claimed that they had no idea about the murder and had not seen anyone suspicious around the time of the slaying.
However, once authorities interviewed Richard Glossip, the manager of the inn, he seemed to indicate that a 19-year-old janitor who went by the name of Justin Sneed might be responsible for the murder. Interestingly, the show alleged that Justin had a meth habit and had reportedly stolen money from some of the patrons. Thus, figuring he would have a reasonable motive to kill Barry, the police brought the nineteen-year-old for questioning.
In the initial stages of the interrogation, Justin did not seem to divulge much information and decided to keep quiet. Still, once authorities claimed that several people held him responsible for the crime, Justin confessed to killing Barry with a baseball bat and insisted that Richard had asked him to carry out the murder. Surprisingly, there was no evidence to tie Richard to the crime, and the police only had Justin’s word to go on. Yet, they decided to trust their gun and arrested both Justin and Richard for Barry’s murder.
Justin Sneed is Behind Bar, While Richard Glossip is on Death Row
Once produced in court, Justin Sneed agreed to testify against Richard Glossip and pled guilty to first-degree murder in order to escape the death penalty. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 and is still incarcerated behind bars at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, Oklahoma. On the other hand, Richard kept insisting on his innocence, and although he was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death in 1998, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction in 2001. However, Richard’s happiness was short-lived as in a retrial in August 2004, he was once again convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Since then, Richard has tried his best to get his sentencing overturned, and while his appeals haven’t gone his way, his execution in October 2014 was delayed since the State of Oklahoma did not have the proper drugs needed for the lethal injection. Since then, Richard’s execution has stayed twice in the year 2015, since the state of Oklahoma ran into a controversy regarding the use of potassium acetate over potassium chloride for execution.
Subsequently, in June 2015, Richard also became the primary plaintiff in a case against Oklahoma for the use of midazolam in lethal injections. Nevertheless, once Oklahoma ended its stay on death penalties, Richard was selected as one of the prisoners scheduled to be executed on September 22, 2022. However, the execution was halted once again for a new evidentiary hearing. Thus, at present, Richard remains on death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, and is scheduled to be put to death on December 8, 2022.
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