Scaredy Cop
NEW VIDEO! It’s the latest in our DNA DOESN’T LIE investigation and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office should be ashamed over the way they have treated the family of Sherry Novosad. Her death was ruled a suicide 15 months ago, but her family thinks she was murdered. Now we know why the Texas Rangers are still investigating as we look for a lawman who is a real SCAREDY COP.
Scaredy Cop
We’re listening to a song from my favorite movie, The Godfather.
We are driving along County Road 3183 in the woods near Cleveland, Texas, northeast of Houston.
We see the guy we have been looking for, but you’ll have to look fast or you’ll miss it.
The glimpse of a Liberty County Sheriff’s Department corporal literally running into his house after he sees us getting out of the car.
“I’m Wayne Dolcefino, I’m here to talk to you about Sherry Novosad,” Wayne Dolcefino said.
You’ve heard of scaredy cats, but what about scaredy cops?
Maybe he is worried about what we now know?
We shouldn’t be surprised, his boss, Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader, has been fighting us too and hiding, as we learn why the Texas Rangers are investigating Sherry Novosad’s death more than a year after it was declared a suicide.
“Are the Rangers really seeking justice in this case, or are they simply trying to stonewall our review of a clearly suspect investigation,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Sherry’s family doesn’t trust any of them.
“They’re all in cahoots together and nobody wanted to do a real investigation,” Kathy Hatcher said.
That is why they came to us for help, but ask yourself why the sheriff wouldn’t want the same thing we want: simply justice for Sherry, a real investigation at the same time.
“I know you are in there,” Dolcefino said.
“Something is wrong, something is going on. I don’t know what all is going on, but something is definitely going on. I was absolutely livid,” Julie Ann Hoggard said.
That was Julie Ann Hoggard’s first reaction when she got the news.
Her best friend, Sherry Novosad, was gone, a gunshot wound to the neck that lodged in her spine.
Blood splattered all over the trailer where Sherry lived.
They had been friends since they were 14.
“And when I found out that they called this a suicide, no, I don’t believe that one bit,” Julie Ann Hoggard said.
Sherry’s family didn’t buy the suicide story either.
“Not a million years would I imagine she had shot herself. You know what I mean?” Samantha said.
And they say they told deputies that the very day Sherry was found.
“Did they do anything? Did they check? No, they just bagged her up like a piece of trash and took her. No, they didn’t investigate,” Kathy Hatcher said.
Sherry was found in her house sitting upright against her front door.
We can’t show you the conversations on body cam that day because the sheriff won’t let us see them. Or let us hear the 911 calls, and they are hiding the police reports from us, even though the family hired us to act on their behalf.
That’s why we wanted to follow the DNA trail, and we brought Bruce Jefferies of the National Screening Center to help us to do it, examining bloodstains in the trailer where Sherry died.
The blood sample from that clock provided no clear result, but you see this blood stain on the curtains.
The results of that test deepen the mystery, because it wasn’t Sherry’s blood.
And her husband, Ted, volunteered a DNA sample; but it’s not his blood either.
So whose blood is it?
Did the Liberty County sheriffs do blood tests at the scene? We doubt it.
But it’s law enforcement 101: treat any dead person as a possible homicide victim.
Did they test her hands for residue from the gun? I’m told it’s hard to pull the trigger on that kind of pistol, especially backwards.
“The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office conducts the investigation to the fullest of its ability on the death,” Captain Myers said.
David Myers, captain in charge of criminal investigations for the sheriff.
“You’re not going to push a button on me to get me to yell or to get me angry,” Captain Myers said.
He has been hiding from us.
“From that day, I didn’t like Captain Myers because he didn’t care. He didn’t want to hear it,” Cassandra Brown
Longtime Sheriff Bobby Rader has been hiding from us too.
Apparently, the sheriff’s office is full of scaredy cops just because we are questioning their investigation.
“I looked at her neck there was no burns. She shot a .410 pistol right here against her neck. It would have burned the hell out of her. There were no burns on her neck,” Ted Novosad said.
The pistol emits an eight-inch flame when fired.
And what about Sherry’s busted lip? Another scaredy cop.
“We are very well aware of all the bruising. We are very well aware of all of that. No matter how angry you get, you’re not going to push the button on me,” Captain Myers said
“But our Justice for Sherry investigation is about to blow the big secret wide open anyway,” Dolcefino told the camera.
It’s why we went to that lawman’s house in Cleveland; he knew exactly why we were there.
“Her husband claims that you were having an affair with his wife, we are going to be reporting this,” Dolcefino said.
Ted and Sherry Novosad had a troubled, distrustful marriage.
Ted was suspicious she was cheating on him and tried to prove it.
“I called OnStart. Onstar told me where the vehicles park,” Ted Novosad said.
He found his wife’s car one afternoon in the driveway of this home in Cleveland.
You can make out the pink license plates that said Sherry.
And her car was parked behind a patrol car from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
The apparent other guy.
“I asked her if that’s really what she wanted, and she said yes. And it just crushed me,” Ted Novosad said.
Ted says his granddaughter snapped this picture of Corporal James McQueen Senior.
That’s him next to Sherry.
McQueen was married at the time too, but his wife lived in another town. They are now divorced, and she’s talking.
“He has a bad temper, and he thinks because he’s a Liberty County Sheriff’s officer nobody is going to do anything about it,” Debbie McQueen said.
Debbie says James served her with divorce papers; she already knew about the alleged affair.
“He and Sherry had wanted to get married, but she would have to get a divorce first,” Debbie McQueen said.
Then Sherry died. Her sister remembers phone calls with McQueen in the background, claiming he was worried the affair was hurting his chance for promotions.
“He was in the background, going ‘Get off the phone, we need to talk,’ and I have heard him scream at her because he was a drunk,” Cassandra Brown said.
We hear conflicting stories about whether McQueen and Sherry were still together when she was found dead, but Sherry’s family wants McQueen to face investigation, but not by his own department.
“The family wants you to take a DNA test. Would you be willing to do it? We can set it up,” Dolcefino said.
Another unanswered question: when did the sheriff’s office bring in the Rangers? Myers claims it was early on.
“The Rangers told us they are still holding Sherry’s phone. Trying to dump the contents forensically so they can see who she might have been talking to in the hours before she died,” Dolcefino told the camera.
But it’s been fourteen months. That doesn’t take this long.
Are the Rangers really serious about finding justice for Sherry, or just delaying our investigation?
Ted says he went to the Rangers for help a year ago. He was only interviewed in the last few weeks after the family hired us.
“You believe she was murdered, Ted?” Dolcefino asked.
“I honestly believe she was murdered,” Ted Novosad said.
But the Liberty County captain bristled at suggestions they did this investigation differently because the dead woman was apparently hooked up with a fellow deputy.
“I have been in law enforcement 26 years. I’m not covering up for a cop for anything,” Captain Meyers said.
Sherry’s sister says McQueen was the one who helped her file domestic violence charges against Ted. They were dropped after she died.
And remember that photo of the conversation in McQueen’s driveway we showed you.
Two days after that, Ted recorded six Liberty County deputies showing up at his house to commit him to a mental institution.
Ted was released after just a couple of days.
Hospital records show Ted was suicidal, after learning that his wife was stepping out on him.
But were all these deputies necessary?
And was McQueen on the scene? Ted says yes. Kathy Hatcher recounts what McQueen supposedly told Ted as he was taken away in handcuffs.
“And McQueen told him, supposedly at that time, ‘I’m gonna be sleeping in your bed, fucking your wife, and swimming in your pool nude,” Kathy Hatcher said.
“We’d love an answer to that pretty shocking allegation, but McQueen was hiding in his house like a scaredy cop,” Dolcefino told the camera.
And the evidence in the trailer is so contaminated now, the DA would likely be unable to file charges even if they discovered Sherry was murdered.
“If we don’t get justice for her, at least we can get a bad cop off the streets,” Michelle Free said.
That’s why Sherry’s daughter has started a Facebook page, Justice for Sherry.
“This has been a lot financially on the family just because of Liberty County not wanting to do their own investigation. My family has had to fund the investigation privately to find things like the male DNA and to clear my stepdad,” Michelle Free said.
“That family simply deserves to know the whole truth. Did Sherry kill herself, or was she murdered? Trying to hide records from that family is simply unjust. The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office tells us there’s no cover up here, but I got to tell you folks, it sure smells like one,” Dolcefino told the camera.
“I don’t know if there’s ever going to be an answer to that,” Cassandra Brown said.
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