Could've Been:
Images & Transcript

[00:00:00] Penny: Please be advised that this episode depicts graphic descriptions of violence against others.

I'm Penny Dearmin, and this is Blood Town.

It's only been a year since the first episode of Blood Town. The case was being brought to you in real time as the events happened. Most podcasts, they cover cases that have been solved or cold cases that have taken place long ago in the past. And there's distance there and there's safety in distance, but we wanted to show the process that most people go through when they first hear about a crime. It starts with [00:01:00] reading the first headline, clicking on other articles, seeking out all the sources that you can in print, on social media, and then going to people that you know, and asking them what they've heard or what experience they might have had with any of the individuals involved. Looking for the truth in what happened that night, while it's still being discovered is challenging.

The date has not been set for the trial, and although Marcus Lillard was indicted on January 14th of 2020, the state's case was presented at the commitment hearing or preliminary hearing on June 14th of 2019. I'm going to present to you a recording of agent Michael Maybin's words, but it's not his voice.

And Stephen Bradley [00:02:00] was the DA at this hearing. And I'm obviously not Southern or a gentleman, but I will be interjecting his questions in between those statements made by Michael Maybin of the GBI. 

 

Agent Maybin: At 1:06 AM. The 911, one call was placed by Clark Heindel. He stated that during that call he needed an ambulance at his residence.

So, he stated he thinks she's drowned or she's drowning. She slipped under the hot tub. She's breathing, but it's labored. She's out of the hot tub lying beside the pool. She's breathing, but her lips are blue. 911 asked again, is she breathing? And then he says, well, she's not breathing, but it's give and take, you…

He can't tell what's CPR and what's her breathing. 

 

Penny: Bradley asks Maybin, how quickly did the EMTs and the paramedics arrive? 

[00:03:00] 

 

Agent Maybin: The EMTs and paramedics arrived at the same time as law enforcement. About 1:20 1:21 AM. Somewhere in that timeframe. And when they got to the scene, I mean, it was so dark out there.

I mean, they went right by the pool, this place, you've got the house, you've got a pool in front of the house, and this pool runs long ways in front of the house, not parallel. So, there's probably a good 50, 75 feet between the pool and the house, and they, it was so dark. They couldn't even see these individuals were at the pool on the deck.

So, they went straight to the house onto the porch for they realized that they were behind them on the pool deck. So, they go out to the pool deck and when they get there, Mr. Lillard and Mr. Heindel were there giving aid to Ms. Shockley. Mr. Heindel, and he was clothed in a t-shirt and some swim shorts, and somewhere, somewhere around about that time, [00:04:00] deputies all got there.

Mr. Lillard put a towel around his waist. He was nude under the towel around his waist, and they were working, giving aid/CPR to Ms. Shockley who was laying on to, onto the pool deck. She was also nude and had a good, a good amount of blood around her body, around, scattered on the pool deck and on the grass, grassy area around the pool deck.

 

Penny: Bradley asked, what did the EMTs describe specifically as to the presentation of Ms. Shockley and the behavior of the other people they found? 

 

Agent Maybin: They describe it to be a very weird scene, very inconsistent with statements given by the Mr. Heindel, Mr. Lillard, but they said based on the body, it was already starting to show signs of lividity and rigor mortis, which led them to believe that she'd been there some time before they called them.

 

Penny: When either law enforcement or EMTs arrived, what did the defendant Mr. Lillard do? 

 

Agent Maybin: When they [00:05:00] arrived, he was assisting Heindel in CPR. They continued that until the fire department paramedics took over. These deputies had cameras on, body cameras on. You could see a lot of what was going on out there. It was very dark, but they had lights on the cameras and, you know, his, at one point where Mr. Lillard appeared to be…place his hand on Ms. Shockley's breast and then on her vagina, vagina area at one point during the CPR, and it was kind of strange. So, they started also making statements, Mr. Heindel and Mr. Lillard and well on the scene Heindel's statement was that he was in the shallow end of the pool.

He said, sitting and swimming while Shockley, Ms. Shockley and Mr. Lillard were in the hot tub. He said that Lillard went into the woods. And when he came out of the woods, Shockley was not responsive in the hot tub. And that Lillard pulled her out of the hot tub and Heindel, Lillard, and Heindel then began CPR on her.

And when they would breathe in, it appeared that she would breathe out, but she never gained consciousness or was responsive. [00:06:00] He would…he would guesstimate it was about 45 minutes they worked on her before dialing 911. They said they called 911 about 10 minutes ago. When she was being interviewed on the scene, he didn't.

He said they did not call sooner because they thought that she was going to come around. Lillard, and he stated that if you didn't know how long Marianne was under the water, but it shouldn't have been long. You first said that he thinks he, she hit her head when, when she got out of the hot tub, he said he worked on, him and Clark Heindel worked on her for about 45 minutes before they called because they thought she was going to make it and they could hear her gurgling.

He said he was in the woods, and when he came back out, she was in the hot tub by herself and he could see her slumped down, back of her head, slumped down in the back of the corner, facing away from him in the hot tub. He pulled her out to where the EMS found her, is what he first stated. He pulls her out and he says [00:07:00] he drops her, and that's when she hits her head and causes a head injury to her forehead. When questioned about how long they waited to call 911, he said, he guessed it's four to five minutes, but it could have been 10 minutes. He doesn't know, seems like forever, but who knows? He stated that Miss Shockley may have been putting on a little bit.

He thought she may have been putting on a little bit, faking it and trying to get some extra attention or shown more love. And he thought maybe she was just playing with him. He was kind of inconsistent about how far into the water her face was when he found her. And he first started saying that she was up, the water was up to her chin.

Later statements he would say it was up to her, below her nose. It was above her nose. He was kind of inconsistent about where her face was in the water when he found her. 

 

Penny: What about signs of respiration or breathing? 

 

Agent Maybin: He never said that at that time. He said she was dead weight, lifeless body. He actually, during our interviews, stated several times that he [00:08:00] knew she was gone when he pulled her up out of the water; that he knew she was, was deceased.

And, but he did say that he thought he could bring her back to life. 

 

Penny: Any of the first responders see any signs of intoxication on any one of the three individuals? 

 

Agent Maybin: Not, not that they mentioned, and watching the, watching the body cameras I mean, Mr. Lillard did not seem intoxicated. He was very coherent. I mean, his speech wasn't slurred.

He seemed very, very sober in my opinion. 

 

Penny: What happened next? 

 

Agent Maybin: Well, he made statements out there, but how he carried her, how he carried her to the other side of the pool. First, he says he swam with her to the other side of the pool to get closer to the house and closer to Clark, because he was kind of inconsistent about where Clark was.

He'd say Clark was in the pool. He’d say Clark was on the porch. I mean, in, in, in the house. 

 

Penny: Bradley shifts his [00:09:00] questioning to Clark Heindel. Clark Heindel made the statements to law enforcement. What happened then? 

 

Agent Maybin: After that Mr. Heindel and Mr. Lillard were walking around the scene. They were walking into the house and walking around.

And at that time, the deputies decided, okay, we need to lock down the crime scene, secure these people, and get them out of the scene. So, they started…got Mr. Lillard some clothing, got out of the house him to put on some shorts, shirt. Put Mr. Lillard into the back of the police car and Mr. Heindel, they were going to do the same with him, but he wound up walking off, going back into the house where he ultimately took his own life with the, with the shotgun in his, his bathroom, his master bedroom. 

 

Penny: Other than the initial verbal statement to the officers when they first arrived,

does Heindel give any other description of what happened? 

 

Agent Maybin: Well, no. He left. Well, he did leave a suicide note; he left a note there on the scene. And basically it said that he did not know what happened to Marianne, but it [00:10:00] happened on his watch and he can't live with it and he's had a good life and it was time for him to go.

 

Penny: Where is the defendant at this point when they secure the crime scene? 

 

Agent Maybin: He's in the backseat of a, of a deputy sheriff car. 

 

Penny: Did they take Ms. Shockley to the hospital? Or was she declared dead at the scene? 

Agent Maybin: I believe she was declared deceased in the back of the ambulance. Then they took her to the hospital or the morgue, you know, where, where the body was later transported to the crime lab.

 

Penny: Bradley asked Maybin to give an overview of the scene around Ms. Shockley's body. 

 

Agent Maybin: Her body was laying at the deep end of the pool deck by... near the hot tub. There were some towels, bloody towels there at the scene that they'd use to, based on statements from Mr. Lillard, compress her head wound with. Mr. Heindel's phone, cell phone, was in the scene…on the, on the pool deck and there was some clothing scattered about.

There was some hydrangea leaves, [00:11:00] flowers scattered around the…near where the body was. There were some, a couple of beer bottles by the hot tub, and there was a shovel leaned up against the hot tub as well. There was blood in…near the pool deck where the body was found and there was blood on the opposite end.

There was small amounts of blood in the grassy area, around the pool as well. And then into the house, there was some blood in some doorways on the carpet, things like that. Looks like drop stain. This is what our crime scene specialist advised. So, being that they weren't actively bleeding, we would assume that at this point, it's, it's Ms.

Shockley's blood. So, he says he gets, approaches Marianne. He does say he yells at her, and he might've yelled her name, might've said, Hey, Hey Mar, you okay? And no response. And he says, he picks her up under the arms and pulls her out of the hot tub, and over towards the right where she was found by the EMT is, is, is what he says, he drops her. He gets her and he says, she's heavy, she's dead weight. [00:12:00] He says, he said it multiple times during the interview that he knew she was gone, and he drops her. They fall together, and that's where he said that she occurred. She had the injury occurred to her forehead on the pool deck, concrete pool deck.

At that point, he says that Clark is on the other end of the pool. And he was either trying to get to Clark, trying to get some light, but he wanted to take the body to the other end of the house, the other end of the pool, towards the house. So, he says he rolls her off, body off, into the pool, gets in, puts his, her arms around his back and swims her to the other end of the pool and gets her out of there.

And then him and Clark started CPR. He really first couldn't explain why he brought her back to the location. But they, they carry it around to the back location where she was initially found, which is back to the other side of the pool. He says they continue to do CPR. He claims it was 45 minutes before he called 911. 

 

[00:13:00] Penny: Agent Maybin, was there anything else material in that first statement? 

 

Agent Maybin: He denied that Heindel, Clark Heindel would have ever hurt her. He said Clark wouldn't do that. This was all our initial interview. He denied that Clark and Ms. Shockley have had sexual relationship…that they were sexually attracted to each other, anything of that nature. He said that Heindel went in and made some tea, some type of tea to help while, as they're doing CPR, to help pour in her mouth to help revive her or some kind of tea, he makes, like I say, he denied any sexual contact other than to kiss Shockley that night. 

 

Penny: Bradley asks Maybin about his investigation into what the parties were doing during those 45 minutes between when they removed Dr. Shockley from the hot tub and they called 911, and Agent Maybin brings up the first call at 11:20 to the respiratory therapist, whom we now [00:14:00] know is Marcus Lillard's ex-wife. Bradley asks if during this call, the defendant reported any improvement in Miss Shockley's situation. 

 

Agent Maybin: No. He was a back and forth with this, with, with this person saying she's breathing, she's not breathing. And this person said that he's very fast talking on the phone, very excited and very... sounded like he was intoxicated.

 

Penny: Tell us about the other five phone calls, please. 

 

Agent Maybin: The only one connected was the one I told you about a while ago.

There are the ones... they did not pick up, didn't answer. I thought maybe one maybe tried to call back, you know, but then he didn't answer. So, we also have five different, I'm not saying they're different people. I'm not saying they're five different, more different people, but there was five different text messages, Facebook messages set out as well, between 11:30 and 12:43 AM. And in those texts, he would say, come here now, please, and he would [00:15:00] misspell words like G I T G Y A friend for you and he would put Marcus at the end of it. So, come here now, please G I T G Y A friend for you, Marcus. And that would be what he sent and that's what he said. Marcus

I need you. Next one, he sent was: Marianne. He said, Marianne, not full conscious. Call me. He sent one saying: it's me fool. Yeah, she's not, she's letting that bullshit go. It's beautiful. He sent another one that said, it's Marcus. I need you to the Clarks please. Another one says, call me it's Marcus. I need you at the Clark's ASAP.

And another says: not fun, work. 

 

Penny: And does the defendant end up having any back-and-forth conversation with anyone other than the respiratory therapist? 

 

Agent Maybin: He did get his phone at 1:19 AM, which would have been shortly, shortly before law enforcement paramedics arrived. He did get his own phone and make a phone call to another person who was [00:16:00] in the medical field, which he left a voicemail on her phone. On that voicemail, he said, it's Marcus. Clark's, we've got something going on here. And it ain't all that fun and I think you can make it go better. And that's all he said. 

 

Penny: Bradley moves on to the autopsy that was performed in Macon at the GBI crime lab by Dr. Stanley. What did she find on Ms. Shockley's body? 

 

Agent Maybin: So, she had abrasions and scrapes to, to the forehead and the right eye. Lacerations to the right forehead would, that was a laceration to the right forehead.

It was exposed to soft tissue. She had petechia in the eyes, abrasions to the nose, bruising to the right cheek. Abrasions to the lips, contusions under the skin. Scalp hemorrhages to the left front, right front, top of the scalp. She had bitten her tongue, had multiple soft tissue hemorrhages to the neck, which the doctor said is coming along with the petechia in the [00:17:00] eyes. It's a classic sign of strangulation.

She had chest, abdomen, back, legs, all had abrasions and contusions. She had rib fractures on both sides of the rib cage on the number four rib on the right, number three through five rib on the left, which she noted was an unusual location for CPR inflicted injuries. 

 

Penny: You and I met earlier this week.

You described some specific, unusual injuries to her arms that you saw. Tell us about those, please. 

 

Agent Maybin: It was just like what you call pattern marks. It was like, it almost looked like marks from a hand or squeezing, grabbing the arms. And they were, like I said, there were bruises pretty much all over, all over the body. 

 

Penny: Like fingertips or fingerprints or palm prints? 

 

Agent Maybin: It looked more like finger, fingerprints, finger marks.

 

Penny: And what color were those on her body when you observed them? 

 

Agent Maybin: They were a bluish color. The Dr. did [00:18:00] say that most of her injuries would, would have occurred on or before the time of death with, with the exception of a few on the lower extremities that were kind of yellowish, not pinkish, which would give her the...in her opinion would be post-mortem after death.

 

Penny: What did Dr. Stanley indicate was the cause and manner of death? 

 

Agent Maybin: The cause was strangulation, and the manner was homicide. 

 

Penny: Was she able to identify whether or not it was a ligature or a manual strangulation? 

 

Agent Maybin: She made no mention of ligature, but manual. It would be manual strangulation. 

 

Penny: Other than the manual strangulation, did she, Dr. Stanley, have any other contributing factor to her death? Were there any other injuries that would have been potentially lethal? 

 

Agent Maybin: No. 

 

Penny: The manual strangulation. Did she identify the specific [00:19:00] injuries that indicated that she... where on the body she had been strangled? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes. It was the tissue around the neck and the petechial hemorrhages in the eyes that show the indications of strangulation.

 

Penny: Was the hyoid bone actually broken? 

 

Agent Maybin: She mentioned the hyoid bone being...I think there was some tissue damage around the hyoid. I don't know if she, I don't know if she said it was broken or not. I'm not really sure about that. 

 

Penny: Regarding the witnesses that came forward in Marcus Lillard and Clark Heindel's past, Bradley wants to know, Did anyone who, in any context, has known either one of these individuals described them as having a temper that leads to violence? As having a proclivity toward assaulting other individuals, particularly women in their lives? 

 

Agent Maybin: Clark [00:20:00] Heindel, we have no, no reports of him being violent, or violent during sex, not angry or type of temper.

Most people describe him as, you know, laid back, full of love. I mean, just a nice guy. Mr. Lillard. I'm not going to say that anybody reported him as being a violent or having a temper, but they're reporting that he gets that way, during sex. 

 

Penny: So, you talked to the defendant a third time, tell us what happens then. 

 

Agent Maybin: I eventually tell him the results of the autopsy, and immediately starts, when I tell him that, throwing the blame on Clark Heindel saying, you know, well, Clark, Clark did it. Clark must've... Clark killed her, and he didn't really do that before. And that as time went on, he was, he would, you know, change his story up about how long he was gone.

He wanted to start blaming it on Clark, blaming Clark for drugging them, making him, giving him something he's never had, making him [00:21:00] pass out in the woods and such as that, but eventually asked for a lawyer during the third interview. So, it didn't last that long, maybe 20 minutes. 

 

Penny: Prior to his ending the third interview, does the defendant, at any point, describe how Clark Heindel or anyone else kills Marianne Shockley?

 

Agent Maybin: No. He still says he didn't witness Heindel get in the hot tub with her. Didn't hear any commotion while he was in the woods. And he maintained during that time that he didn't hear or see anything, but don't know how this happened, what happened. And he just maintained that he found her floating in the hot tub and pulled her out. 

 

Penny: Defense attorney Franklin Hogue asked Maybin what was collected at the scene that night? 

Agent Maybin: We took clothing from the scene, from around the pool. We took a cell phone from around the pool. We collected… 

 

Penny: Just one cell phone? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes, sir. Because Mr. Lillard gave his and Ms. Shockley's to the deputy when they [00:22:00] first arrived or after they first arrived, before he was placed in the 

car.

 

Penny: So, that was Clark Heindel's cell phone, then?

 

Agent Maybin:  That's correct. 

 

Penny: Where did you find that? 

 

Agent Maybin: It was on the pool deck there, where, near where they were performing CPR. 

 

Penny: Okay. And what else do you recall collecting at the scene? 

 

Agent Maybin: Blood swabbings from multiple, the blood from the pool, the grassy area around the pool, inside the house where they have some…some blood droppings there.

 

Penny: Talk to me about that blood for a minute. We had a description of the pool in relation to the house that it looks like it runs long ways out from the house, not parallel to the house. So, just inside that house, facing the pool, what room are we in?

 

Agent Maybin: That that'd be the living room. 

 

Penny: Is that where the blood was found?

 

Agent Maybin: I can't be exactly certain what, I mean, you'd have to probably have to test, have Brian [00:23:00] Hargrove testify to the exact location, but I don't think it was in the living, I think it was on some carpet maybe going into a bedroom and on some, might, inside, the right inside the doorway, one of the rooms. I just, I can't remember the exact location of the blood, but it appeared to be drops of blood.

 

Penny: All right. Is, is your suspicion that that's Marianne Shockley's blood or someone else's blood? 

 

Agent Maybin: As of right now, I mean, we suspect that it's Ms. Shockley's blood, but that, that is being tested by the crime lab as well. 

 

Penny: So, you're thinking that someone at some point carried her all the way into the house and then brought her back out of the house?

 

Agent Maybin: I'm not saying that. No. 

 

Penny: How do you think the blood got in the house? 

 

Agent Maybin: I mean, that's a possibility, but it's also a possibility that it was transferred there from Mr. Lillard or Mr. Heindel from their, from their bodies, from their clothing, from [00:24:00] giving aid to Ms. Shockley. 

 

Penny: All right. Now, when you got there, were you one of the first who got there to the scene?

 

Agent Maybin: No, I didn't arrive until probably around 4:30 AM. 

 

Penny: So, those who got there earlier than you, not long after this 911 call, did any of them say they saw blood on Mr. Lillard? 

 

Agent Maybin: His hands. 

He had some blood on his hands, but you know, he was actually, I mean, he was giving aid, so that's expected. 

 

Penny: All right. Did any of them say they saw any blood on Clark Heindel prior to his death?

 

Agent Maybin: I can't, I can't be sure, but I would, I would imagine, so. I mean, we have video of it as well, because it was also right there in the blood giving, you know, giving CPR. I mean, his hands were in the blood… 

 

Penny: Multiple body cameras were there, and on, and lit, and recording what they saw? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes, sir. [00:25:00] Yes, sir. 

 

Penny: How many are we talking about? Every officer there had one on them? 

 

Agent Maybin: Most of them, it was probably four, maybe somewhere in that neighborhood. 

 

Penny: All right. Back to my question then about things collected at the scene. You've got clothes, cell phone, and blood so far. Anything else you can remember? 

 

Agent Maybin: We took some controlled substances or illegal drugs from the 

house.

 

Penny: Stop there for a minute. What, what did you get? Can you tell by looking at them or do you have to test it? 

 

Agent Maybin: Suspected to be marijuana, and we have some, some of the tea, some form of liquid that tested positive, some type of DHT [sic] hallucinogen or something, or a psychedelic drug. 

 

Penny: Well, let me stop you there now; the tea you found, and that's the tea you mentioned that somebody said Clark Heindel was trying to give Marianne Shockley, some tea to drink?

 

Agent Maybin: That's correct. 

Now whether it's the same tea, I don't know. But Lillard [00:26:00] did say he was making tea, trying to give her some tea. Now, whether that's the same tea, I'm not, I'm not certain.

 

Penny: Where is the tea that you found during the search? Was it in the kitchen? 

 

Agent Maybin: I believe it was in the kitchen. We also found another substance that was kind of unidentified that we took too. 

 

Penny: What did it look like? Or what did you suspect it to be? 

 

Agent Maybin: We don't know. It looked like a cake batter substance, but you know, we, we didn't know if it was more of that type of weird psychedelic or hallucinogenic drugs.

We didn't, we didn't know. So, we took the substance because it was in the kitchen in a, in a bowl. 

 

Penny: Mr Hogue asks about the alcohol they found.

 

Agent Maybin: There was a couple of empty Bud Light cans on the porch. There was some Corona bottles and a couple of Blue Moon bottles. It wasn't a substantial amount of alcohol.

 

Penny:  Were all those collected or just photographed and left? [00:27:00]

 

Agent Maybin: I believe they were…I believe they were just photographed. 

 

Penny: So, it would be safe to say that they were left behind and whatever was in those bottles has not been sent off to be tested, to see if anything other than beer was in there. 

 

Agent Maybin: Yeah. I don't, I don't believe we did collect any of the bottles to be a, and I don't know if ...I can't tell you for sure if they were all empty, I'm not sure.

That'd probably be a question for the man who processed the scene. 

 

Penny: Okay. So other than the drugs and the blood, has anything else been sent off for forensic examination at a lab that was taken from the house? 

 

Agent Maybin: Blood, drugs we sent, we had a sexual assault kit done. So, it's there, as well as, we had some fingerprints that we lifted, swabbings of the blood.

 

Penny: Where were the fingerprints lifted? 

 

Agent Maybin: The fingerprints were lifted from Clark Heindel's vehicle because we were suspecting that that car might might've been moved or utilized that night. 

 

[00:28:00] Penny: I'm going to move past this line of questioning about Clark Heindel's vehicle. The suspicion was that it had been moved that night as a result of an auto reply text from Clark Heindel's phone that happens when you're driving and someone texts you. It sends a message, you know, saying something like “Driving right now. Can't talk.” But, there's not been any evidence brought to bear that that is actually what happened that night. So, we'll come back to this later. Mr. Hogue says to agent Maybin, Now tell me about your interview of Clark Heindel at the scene.

Obviously, he's now deceased, but someone talked to him after they arrived at his house? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes, briefly. He, he said on the video body camera, video, talking to officers,  along with [00:29:00] Lillard was present. It was obvious that basically to me, anytime that Heindel started talking, Lillard would come over there and try to take on. Lillard was more taking over the conversation and trying to explain things to officers, so Clark didn't say a whole lot, but what he did say I told while ago is, is the testimony I gave. 

 

Penny: I want to talk about what he didn't say. Did he ever say he saw how Marianne Shockley died? 

 

Agent Maybin: He did not. 

 

Penny: He never said he saw Marcus Lillard having sex with her? 

 

Agent Maybin: He did not. 

 

Penny: Or choking her?

 

Agent Maybin: He did not. 

 

Penny: How long between the arrival of EMTs and police and Clark Heindel's suicide?

 

Agent Maybin: I honestly don't know. I have not timed that out. I do not know. I mean, it would be, you could do it on by, by looking at the video, you could probably tell and look at the times of the responses and [00:30:00] time the call came in for the suicide, but I, I, I 

don't know.

 

Penny:  During that time, whatever time it is, was he ever out of the presence completely of all police and EMTs?

 

Agent Maybin: Yes. And so was Mr. Lillard. 

 

Penny: Well, during the time that Clark Heindel was out of the presence of all EMTs and police, do you know about how long he was out, completely out, of the presence of any other law enforcement or medical person? 

 

Agent Maybin: I do not know, sir. It would be speculating until I timed it out on the video.

 

Penny: Well, let me just go back to what I'm trying to get at, and I'm just asking for your own speculation, if you want to make it right now. Did he write a note, the three-page note that you called the suicide note, while the EMTs and the police were there at his house or before they arrived? 

 

Agent Maybin: That's a good question.

I do not know. And we don't know. And I [00:31:00] think maybe, maybe he's the only one who knows. I 

don't know. 

 

Penny: Well, one of the reasons I'm asking about how much time he had alone, you could kind of estimate how long it takes to write three pages. Was he alone long enough to have done that? Do you know? 

 

Agent Maybin: I guess, no, I do not know that at this moment.

 

Penny: Do you know that he wasn't alone long enough to have written those three pages? 

 

Agent Maybin: No, I can't say that. 

 

Penny: But that's something that we think is knowable because you can piece it together, I guess, from video. 

 

Agent Maybin: I think you could do it. 

 

Penny: Mr. Hogue asks for a rough estimate of how long Clark Heindel was out of the police presence until he went inside and killed himself.

 

Agent Maybin: I mean, it wouldn't be an hour. I mean, it would be minutes, but I don't know how many minutes. 

 

Penny: Minutes. Okay. In the note then, the one page [00:32:00] that pertains to this case, does he say in there anything to describe how Marianne Shockley died? 

 

Agent Maybin: No. 

 

Penny: Does he say he saw Marcus Lillard do anything to her? 

 

Agent Maybin: No. 

 

Penny: Does he admit that he himself did anything to her?

 

Agent Maybin: No. 

 

Penny: Now you talked about what he did say concerning her death, and I, best I can remember, you said that he said he lived a good life. This happened on his watch... words to that effect? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes, sir. 

 

Penny: Do you have that note here? 

 

Agent Maybin: I do not. 

 

Penny: Well, give us a, if it's a page about this case, sum up as best you can remember, and we're not going to hold you.

It's not a memory test. Just how he described what happened.

 

Agent Maybin: It was…I do not know. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to Marianne. It happened on my watch, maybe something to the effect of I can’t, I've had a good life, and then he signed it Namaste, [00:33:00] something like that. That's…that's pretty much it; it wasn't, it wasn't detailed or elaborate.

It was pretty short. 

 

Penny: Mr. Hogue brings up the people that Maybin interviewed who saw Marianne Shockley and Marcus Lillard together during the day before they got to Clark Heindel's house and he asks, Give me just the gist of what they describe their demeanor to be. If they were happy fighting or what? 

 

Agent Maybin: We don't have anyone that, to my knowledge that said they were, you know, fighting or having a bad day, nothing like that.

No. 

 

Penny: Mr. Hogue brings up Marcus Lillard's travels out of the country with Marianne Shockley on entomology trips and research trips to Ecuador, Galapagos, and other places. He says, Tell me anything of note that these people have described to you about their relationship? Good or bad? 

 

Agent Maybin: Well, they all, [00:34:00] I mean, everybody, nobody has said that he was abusive or mean to her or anything like that nature. They, they all said they seemed fine together. No, they report nothing bad, nothing 

negative. 

 

Penny: And people reported to you that Marianne had affection for him?

 

Agent Maybin: Yes.

 

Penny: Back on the forensic topic, did you request, and I think I heard Mr. Bradley ask you this, so I think the answer is yes, toxicology to be done on both Marianne Shockley's blood and on Clark Heindel?

 

Agent Maybin: That's correct. 

 

Penny: How about, are you aware of whether any fingerprints or fingernail scrapings have been taken from Marianne Shockley looking for possible DNA of either Clark Heindel or Marcus Lillard? 

 

Agent Maybin: We, we would, our crime lab would not do them because they were, she was reportedly submerged in water and [00:35:00] DNA and water does not get along.

So, they didn't do it. And they normally don't do that. So that's, we have no DNA under the fingernails. 

 

Penny: All right, so you don't know if the medical examiner did that when you say…? 

 

Agent Maybin: they, they did not. The, the GBI, nobody clipped her nails to my knowledge. And the reason not that I was given is because the body being reported submerged in water, they, that's, their rule is they don't test that cause of the deterioration of the DNA. 

 

Penny: Now one, you mentioned three interviews at the jail, and then one time you took him out to Clark Heindel's house. 

 

Agent Maybin: We did. He wanted to go. 

 

Penny: And tell me what that was about. What did you do out there with him? 

 

Agent Maybin: Walked him into the scene and just listened to him 

talk. 

 

Penny: And what did he talk about?

 

Agent Maybin: At that point, he started changing his story, went from initially what he said on the scene. He was in the woods, 15 minutes to... [00:36:00] then he changed it, you know, in my interviews to 20, 20 minutes. Now he's up to, well, I think goes out there from, you know, about an hour and half, maybe two hours. And then I made her, I was drugged by Clark and passed out and I came back; changed the story from getting out of the hot tub on the right-hand side and dropping her to the left-hand side.

It was just, he changed a little bit of the story. And I mean, that was, that was pretty much it. 

 

Penny: And he told you though, he thought he may have been drugged right? 

 

Agent Maybin: He did.

 

Penny: By Clark Heindel? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yeah.

Yeah. But you know, he, this man has told me every, I mean, he's admitted, and then his friends have told me, he's, he's no stranger to about any type of drug.

I mean, you name it, I've heard he's taken it. So, I mean, he's told me he had, he thought he may have been drugged and passed out maybe a couple hours out there. 

 

Penny: Did you take photographs of his body at any point the day [00:37:00] after or in the succeeding few days after you put him under arrest? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yeah, we, we photographed his body initially that, that first interview that morning, I want to say that second day I photographed again, maybe even the third day we did a succession of, you know, photographs, his body.

We did. 

 

Penny: Well. Let's talk about what those photos show. He said he'd gone into the woods? 

 

Agent Maybin: That's right. 

 

Penny: And it was dark, and it was nighttime, and he was naked. Did he have marks on his body to corroborate being in the woods? 

 

Agent Maybin: He had what I call Briar marks where briars scratched some on the legs and feet.

That's mainly where they were at, legs and feet. And he had some bug bites or ant bites, some sort on his feet and legs. And later he showed me some on his back as well. 

 

Penny: Did it look like maybe fire ant bites or? 

 

Agent Maybin: It's what it looked like, something of that 

nature. 

 

Penny: Have you all looked in the woods area where [00:38:00] he says he went? 

 

Agent Maybin: We have. We searched the perimeter.

It's like a eight, nine acre properties. So, we searched the perimeter of the house and that property. 

 

Penny: Find anything of evidentiary value in that area of the search? 

 

Agent Maybin: We did not. 

 

Penny: Mr. Hogue refers to earlier testimony from Maybin about the discovery of a shovel on the scene and asks, did you conclude anything about the presence of that shovel that was leaning up against the hot tub?

 

Agent Maybin: Not at this moment. 

 

Penny: Are you looking at that? 

 

Agent Maybin: Yes, sir. 

 

Penny: In what way? Fingerprints on the shovel. 

 

Agent Maybin: Well, right now, yes, yes, sir. We, we are doing that. 

 

Penny: Did you examine the blade of the shovel to see if it had been in the dirt? 

 

Agent Maybin: It was stuck down in the dirt. 

 

Penny: Oh, it was?

 

Agent Maybin: Yeah, it had fresh dirt turned up on, around it. 

 

Penny: Did you look for and find any holes in the yard that had recently been [00:39:00] dug?

 

Agent Maybin: We didn't see any evidence of that. And we, we looked in the woods 

as well.

 

Penny:  In his closing statement, DA Bradley said, there is no evidence or anger or enmity on this scene that is dispositive at the moment, but neither is there any evidence of sex. In other words, there's no way to legally settle the matter of her murder because there's not evidence that shows anger or hostility, or even sex. 

What we know about what took place on the night of the Mother's Day murder comes from statements made by Clark Heindel, Marcus Lillard, the respiratory therapist who's been identified as Marcus's ex-wife, the investigation by the GBI and the Baldwin County Sheriff's office [00:40:00] into the communications that night, which consisted of phone calls, text messages, or Facebook messages.

We know there's marijuana, there's DMT in the tea, potentially more drugs in the cake batter. We will never know if anything was, or any substance was added to, the drinks they consumed that night in the form of the beer bottles, since it wasn't tested and was only photographed. We've discovered that Clark Heindel was in fact clothed when authorities arrived, and that Marcus Lillard had a towel wrapped around him.

That when the EMTs arrived, they alerted the Sheriff's office that she had been dead for far longer than reported, and it was as a result of lividity and rigor mortis, which had set in. Marcus Lillard's ex-wife [00:41:00] reported that he sounded intoxicated. Agent Maybin been said he did not appear to be intoxicated on the body cam footage.

We know the crime scene and the witnesses were not handled appropriately. The most glaring example or evidence of this fact is Mr. Heindel's suicide. Sources tell us that there was no evidence of sex that night. That there was in fact DNA found under her fingernails, and that it did not match Clark or Marcus.

Dr. Marianne Shockley cannot tell us the story of what happened to her that night. We can measure the effects to her body, and it paints, from an outsider/lay person's perspective, an experience [00:42:00] that is harrowing, traumatic, and surprising. 

This is what we know. She did not go there that night having any idea that this was possible; that anyone would hurt her while she was at Clark Heindel's house with her boyfriend Marcus Lillard.

So, why did it happen and why does it matter? It matters because it happens so often to women, and it could have happened to me. I could've been the one who went with Marcus Lillard to Clark Heindel's house, and I could have been murdered. It could have been me because I too was acquainted with Marcus. I never knew that he was a drug dealer or convicted of dealing drugs or distributing drugs, that he was a drug user. I knew that [00:43:00] he, he liked to drink and get high. But I had no idea the extent of his involvement with drugs. 

I don't know how much Marianne knew about Marcus and his drug use and his drug dealing. I think she had true affection for him, and whether that is defined as, as love or whether she was accepting of his philandering, I don't know. I don't think she would have gone there if she didn't trust him. So, what happened that night? Why did it take place? Those are the questions that are still out there, and I think there are some real answers about why these things happen and why they happen to women far too often. And it's not about taking a decision, or asserting an assumption, and assigning blame to [00:44:00] anyone.

Because at the end of the day, she was murdered. Someone murdered her, and I see this story, the evidence on her body, the DNA under her fingernails, as a sign that she was attacked, and that she fought back. And I don't know what part everyone played that night. And I'm horrified that this happened to her, and so sad for her family. But if a town doesn't want to face what's going on under their noses, then it's going to happen again.

And if the person, all the people involved in what took place, are not identified and charged and prosecuted, then it's very likely that it will happen again. No one else should die anywhere, but it definitely shouldn't happen in a place where everyone should have their eyes wide open and be looking out for each other, instead of explaining away and excusing [00:45:00] behavior, that is an environment rife for predators and those who want to violently attack other people. 

Whatever Milledgeville is, whatever you want to call it, I just want it to be honest about the past, the things that have taken place there that will continue to take place there if people continue to cover up what happened. No one wants their town to be called Blood Town. What else should we call it?

Blood town is written, hosted, and produced by Penny Dearmin. Audio engineering by MK Sound. Visit our website, www.bloodtownpodcast.com. 

You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram @bloodtownpodcast, and Twitter @bloodtownpod. Please [00:46:00] rate and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.

The investigation of Dr. Marianne Shockley's death is ongoing. If you have any information which could aid the authorities in their quest for the truth, please contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation immediately. If you have any information related to this podcast, please email us at bloodtownpodcast@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next season.