RICK SMITH: Book sheds light on 1980 murder (2024)

By Rick Smith

Sheila Elrod.

Anyone who lived in San Angelo during the 1980s knows the name of the 20-year-old Central High School graduate and Angelo State student who was shot to death during the robbery of a local jewelry store Feb. 12, 1980.

But what we don't know about the horrifying crime could fill a book.

"No Reason To Kill," a new nonfiction book by retired San Angelo Police Chief Russell Smith, re-examines the long, difficult search for Sheila Elrod's killers. The case took 21 years to solve, and Russell's book sifts through the mountains of evidence with a law officer's close attention to detail.

Many of us know how the story ended in 1992 - when Texas Ranger Jerry Byrne used DNA samples to identify one of the suspects.

The book takes us through the long search for justice and makes us feel the frustration of Sheila's family and friends and the law officers as the investigation drags on.

Russell documents the many twists and turns leading to the arrest and conviction of Louis Aubrey Williams of Austin in 1992. Williams, in turn, identified his crime partner - a former Midland attorney named Harold Jones who died in 1986 - as the shooter.

Russell, now a Tom Green County justice of the peace, took a personal interest in the story.

He was a young patrol officer when the crime took place, and, like many of the officers, helped with the investigation at times over the years.

Drawing from police files, personal experience, interviews and other sources, Russell gives us an insider's look at police work: the endless interrogations, tedious stakeouts and sophisticated field work.

He also shows us the odder side of the business: bizarre phone "tips" and letters that nonetheless have to be followed up, the use of psychics, and even an investigation of a couple who claimed to have seen the ghost of the young crime victim.

Russell also talks about the rumors that circulated in San Angelo over the years.

One local "urban legend" after the murder was that police knew who killed the woman but couldn't prove it.

"Depending on which social circles a person ran in, it was this person-of-interest or that person-of-interest that they were talking about," Russell wrote.

"The truth was that the police did not know who did it, but thought, hoped and prayed they were on the right track with each lead they investigated."

He shows us the dedication of officers who posted palm prints of the suspected killer or photos of Sheila Elrod at their desks to keep the case on their minds years after the killing.

More than a true crime story, "No Reason To Kill" also is a story about San Angelo and the city's "loss of innocence."

After the crime, "We started locking our doors and windows, started watching out for strangers," a woman said in the book.

A doctor tells Russell the community suffered a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder after the crime, "Probably because there was a general feeling that things like this don't happen in San Angelo or this part of West Texas."

"This is small town San Angelo," another man agreed in the book. "This doesn't happen here."

"No Reason To Kill" shows us it does.

But the book also shows us a community coming together to comfort and help one another.

It shows us the dedication of law officers who never give up.

Lost dog

Snuggles, a grey female toy poodle, is missing from the corner of Preusser and Emerson streets.

She has been missing since Nov. 17. She was wearing a purple collar with a gold tag and a red, white and purple sweater.

A heartbroken family would love to have her back home again.

Please call (325) 653-9697 or (325) 653-8981.

Rick Smith is a local news and community affairs columnist. Contact him at rsmith@gosanangelo.com or (325) 659-8248.

Book signing

n Russell Smith will sign copies of "No Reason To Kill" from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Cactus Book Shop, 6 E. Concho Ave.

n Soft cover copies of the books are available at Cactus Book for $21.95 and through amazon.com.

n For more information, call 659-3788.