**The Real Murders on Elm Street Season 2: The 1997 Detroit Double Homicide Near Tiger Stadium**
The Real Murders on Elm Street season 2 revisits a chilling 1997 Detroit double homicide that shocked a quiet neighborhood near Tiger Stadium. On December 23, 1997, Mary Lou Drury, 57, and her mother, Dorothy Gilbert, 75, were discovered in the basement of their Elm Street home. Both women were bound with duct tape and suffocated, with no clear evidence of forced entry.
Police quickly turned their focus to the tenants who lived upstairs and occasionally helped around the property. As the episode title, *Nightmare Before Christmas*, suggests, the crime occurred just on the eve of the holiday season.
### Early Details of the Case
Initial reports indicated that Drury’s husband found a blood trail leading to the bodies shortly after 1:15 p.m. on December 23, 1997. Both victims had plastic bags placed over their heads, with extensive duct tape covering their faces, and restraints binding their wrists and ankles.
Investigators observed the front door was unlocked, and a jewelry box marked with blood was left open in a bedroom. Several valuables were missing, including cash, credit cards, and two firearms. According to coverage from the Detroit Free Press at the time, two tenants — a 43-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman — were taken into custody and faced arraignment. Both had been facing eviction due to alleged theft complaints. One tenant had previously acted as a caretaker for the family.
### Suspects, Arrests, and Motive
Attention centered on Pamela Vannoy and Charles Vaughn, who lived in the upstairs apartment and performed odd jobs for the family, including caregiving duties for Gilbert, who required oxygen.
Both suspects were arrested the day after the murders at a motel in Dearborn, where police recovered Drury’s stolen credit cards and the missing firearms. An acquaintance recounted a brief midday visit by the pair carrying plastic bags, during which Vaughn brandished a handgun and told her she hadn’t seen them since the previous day.
These accounts helped build a narrative of a robbery that escalated into violence after a dispute over eviction and accusations of theft.
### Evidence and Trial Outcomes
Court records detailed several key pieces of evidence, including cut oxygen tubing, a used roll of duct tape, drag marks, and blunt force injuries consistent with being pistol-whipped in Drury’s case.
Statements attributed to Vannoy placed both suspects inside the home shortly after Gerald Drury left for work around 10:00 a.m. The pair allegedly agreed on a theft plan, retrieving bags from the kitchen, restraining the women, and stealing valuables while the victims were still conscious. A blood trail led down the stairs to the hidden bodies in the basement.
The trials were held jointly but with separate juries. Both defendants were convicted of two counts of first-degree felony murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The Michigan Court of Appeals, in unpublished opinions issued on January 26, 2001, upheld the convictions. The court found sufficient evidence of intent either as principals or as aiders and abettors, including acts that knowingly cut off the victims’ air supply.
A later federal habeas corpus ruling reviewed the case and upheld the convictions. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan summarized testimony regarding the timeline, stolen property, and forensic findings that both deaths were caused by asphyxia.
### Watch The Real Murders on Elm Street Season 2
New episodes of *The Real Murders on Elm Street* season 2 air on Investigation Discovery every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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[Jermaine Ross Murder Case – A Detailed Case Overview from The Real Murders on Elm Street Season 2 Episode 4]
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