Heather Bogle

"You are the monster that creeps beneath your bed. You are the person that hides around the corner that everybody warned about. You are a criminal and you are a murderer. You should not see the light of day."

-Carmella Badillo

It was the 9th of April 2015. A Thursday. Twenty eight year old Heather Bogle was having a bad week. Heather lived with her five year old daughter McKenzie in Sandusky County, Ohio, United States. She was in a relationship with a woman, Carmella Badillo, for around a year. They met at the Whirlpool factory where they both worked. But their relationship was about to come to an end. They had many arguments but an argument they had on the Wednesday morning was a particularly bad one. It looked like their relationship was over for good.

Heather Bogle

It wasn't just Heather's personal life that was causing her problems either, she had worked hard at nursing school and just finished the course but discovered she failed one of her exams. It was reported that her brother sent her a nasty text message calling her "too stupid" to pass her licensed practical nursing exam. Even though Heather had a job at Whirlpool, she wanted more for her daughter. She wanted to be able to provide whatever she needed. That's why she went to nursing school. She was upset when she discovered she didn't pass.

Heather Bogle and McKenzie

Heather went to work at Whirlpool on the 8th of April for an overnight shift. She left work early in the morning on the 9th of April. It was 6.17am when she walked out of the Whirlpool factory. But Heather never made it home. Even though Heather was having a rough time, her family knew she would not leave McKenzie so she was reported missing.

CCTV of Heather Bogle (on the right) leaving work at 6.17am

Just one day later, Heather's car was found. Her Oldsmobile was found parked in the parking lot of Somerton Apartments on Hickory Street on the 10th of April. The parking lot was a mile from the Whirlpool factory. When the car was searched, a harrowing discovery was made. Heather's badly beaten body was found in the trunk of her own car.

Police thought that from the condition of Heather's body that the attack was a personal one and the killer was known to Heather. She had been savagely beaten and shot twice. There were two shots to the back which penetrated vital organs in her chest. There were marks on her wrists from restraints and bruises all over her body. Police believed that she was not shot in the trunk of her car as there was no blood or bullet holes. She was placed in the trunk in a semi fetal position wearing an oversized Mickey Mouse T-shirt which was several sizes too large for her.

The trunk in Heather Bogle's car

There were a lot of defensive wounds on Heather's hands which looked like they were caused from blocking and bringing her hands up to try to protect herself. Heather's hair had been hacked off at the scalp. It was cut off in a jagged manner. Her fingernails had been cut down to the cuticles. 

Police looked at those closest to Heather to see if anyone wanted her dead. They were aware there had been a verbal altercation between Heather and Carmella on the Wednesday morning and Heather went to work that evening and went missing the next morning. So it was understandable that they questioned Carmella. But it became clear that Carmella had nothing to do with Heather's murder. They were having problems in their relationship but Carmella certainly did not want Heather dead. 

Police also spoke to a single mother, Keyona Bor, who lived in the apartment complex where Heather's body was found. On the day that Heather went missing, Keyona posted a comment on Facebook about doing 8-10 years for murder and pleading insanity. They also discovered that a man called Omar Satchel was in her apartment the night Heather's body was found. He had served time on home invasion and firearms charges. Police claimed that a source told them that there was a third person involved in the crime. They claimed that Omar's friend, Kayree Jeffrey, dumped the murder weapon.  

Police focused on the three of them so much so that people who had been working with Heather on the night shift had not been questioned. The case stalled and it transpired that the Detective leading the murder investigation, Detective Sean O'Connell, had not been entirely transparent with his findings. He resigned and faced a disciplinary hearing over accusations he shared confidential documents related to the case. He later pleaded guilty to one felony count, tampering with evidence by omitting the DNA results that excluded his three suspects and he was sentenced to two years in prison. Keyona, Omar and Kayree were not involved in Heather's murder. 

Heather's case remained unsolved for two years. Sheriff Hilton and his team took over the investigation. This time, they didn't focus on any one suspect. They went back to Heather's last known movements. She left the Whirlpool factory at 6.17am. So where did she go after that? And how did she end up in the parking lot where her body was found a day later?

In order to find out, they looked at Heather's email accounts and social media activity. Heather's GPS records had been stored by Google so there was an electronic trail of coordinates which showed exactly where Heather went. That morning, the morning of the 9th of April, Heather left the Whirlpool factory at 6.17am. Thirteen minutes later, at 6.30am, the coordinates showed that Heather was inside a trailer home which was a few miles away from the factory. It showed that she was there for around an hour.

Heather Bogle

Police went to that trailer home. And they discovered that one of Heather's coworkers lived there. He had never been questioned about Heather's murder. The coworker was Daniel Myers.

Daniel worked the same shift as Heather did the night of the 8th of April. They left work at the same time the next morning after their shift ended. Daniel told police that he didn't really know Heather though, he only knew of her so he didn't know what happened to her and didn't really understand why they were talking to him over two years after the murder.

Police asked for a DNA sample. But Daniel declined:

"I'm gonna to pass on that. I didn't really know the girl or anything like that."

That made them suspicious as nobody else had refused to provide a sample of their DNA so they got a warrant for his DNA. 

DNA from Daniel was compared to the DNA found under Heather's fingernails. It was a match. 

Daniel Myers

Police searched Daniel's trailer. They hoped to find the murder weapon but no gun or bullets were found. They discovered that Daniel bought new floorboards less than a week after Heather's murder and a new mattress. They believed that Heather was murdered in Daniel's trailer shortly after leaving work that morning. 

Police believed that Daniel's motive was a sexual one. They found women's underwear in his safe in his trailer. He also had videos of himself with women.

Daniel was arrested and charged with Heather's murder. After his arrest, ten women came forward and claimed that he had raped them. When a woman said no to his sexual advances, he became violent, grabbing them by the hair and slamming them against a wall or on the ground.

Faced with a possible death penalty, Daniel decided to accept a plea deal. It meant that he would avoid the death penalty but would never leave prison alive. 

Daniel was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus an additional 20 years. 

The Prosecutor in the case told 48 Hours:

"I think it happened immediately as soon as she came in the door. I think he came onto her sexually. She probably immediately rejected him. I think he grabbed her. I think she punched him in the face. We know he had one cracked tooth and one broken tooth that he repaired with super glue. And then I think he physically overpowered her, beat her into submission, handcuffed her, beat her some more. Stripped her. Probably had her on the bed and we know that 'cause he ends up replacing his mattress at the end of the month after the homicide occurred. And I think he tortured her for a long time. And then I think he shot and killed her."

Daniel later told an inmate that he killed her because she laughed at him when he came on to her. He said that she told him she failed her exam and he wanted to console her. But he was offended when she rejected him. 

But the reality is that Daniel seized his opportunity that morning to invite Heather to his trailer. He knew her well. He drove by her house often and they worked on the same factory line. Daniel would have observed how upset Heather was during the shift and thought that he could take advantage of her when she was at her most vulnerable. Heather was upset and had a lot going on but she never saw Daniel in that way. And when he attacked her, she fought back as hard as she could. He later told an inmate she broke his tooth in the struggle. He had to get it repaired after he killed her. And it was Heather's last fight that saved other women from going through the same thing. Even though Daniel cut her fingernails to try to get rid of DNA, police managed to collect some as evidence and that was later matched to Daniel's DNA. 

 Daniel thought that he could get away with the murder and for a few years it looked like he had. He didn't try to hide. In fact, he made sure he was noticed. He went to Heather's funeral and signed the Book of Condolences and even donated $125 to a GoFundMe campaign that was set up for Heather's daughter. His actions were so brazen, that it caused people to ask: Has he done this before?

Daniel Myer's GoFundMe Message

Six years before Heather's murder, another Whirlpool employee, thirty eight year old Leigh Ann Sluder, was found dead in Clyde. Leigh Ann was Daniel's girlfriend and the mother of his son. Daniel claimed at the time that he found Leigh Ann dead in her bed in her house on the 1st of March 2009. When emergency services arrived, they pronounced her dead at the scene. Her death was ruled to be a suicide by gunshot wound. The investigation was reopened after Heather's death and they reached the same conclusion. They were limited to the evidence and photographs that had been gathered and taken at the time. 

Leigh Ann Sluder

After authorities reopened the investigation, Daniel's relatives gave them a suicide note they found in Daniel's possessions. The note was addressed to Daniel and stated that Leigh Ann felt like an empty shell inside and Daniel had beat her down, used her for money, and kicked her to the side when the next best thing came along. The note went on to say:

“no one really knows how it was for me because I put on a happy face @ work so they all thought I was happy happy joy joy Leigh Ann. But all I ever wanted was to just die for that the hurt would stop.”

Leigh Ann was found with a single gunshot to her chest. A .22 caliber rifle was found beside her. 

Daniel Myers

Daniel admitted he gave Leigh Ann the gun for her own security. But her family do not believe she commit suicide because she had not mentioned anything to them and they questioned how she could shoot herself in the chest with its long barrel and then leave it next to her body.

The Rifle

When Daniel was sentenced for Heather's murder, the Judge gave him an opportunity to say whatever he needed to say to her family or to the Court. Daniel said:

“I have nothing to say.”