This American Doctor /// Part 1 /// 288 | Forensic Files

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talk some true [Music] crime [Music] the psyche of a murderer has fascinated us for
centuries what could they have possibly been been thinking or were they even thinking at all when we look into these
crime stories much of the time we find ourselves asking the same question why what drives seemingly normal
peaceful average people to do horrible violent criminal things within these stories after all
the digging sometimes we get our answer a crime of P sudden rage hidden compulsions an
accident followed by a cover up in this week's case we take a close look at a small town
doctor beloved by his community who suddenly and without warning commits a heinous and brutal murder of someone
close to him what drove this Doctor Who had a passion for healing and caring for his
fellow man to kill and destroy a [Music] life this is the case of Dr Vince Gilmer this week Captain we pay homage
to a great show called this American life you are a regular regular I'm a rabid fan very you listen to it on the
rag as Kenny Powers would say I step in and check it out from time to time with your um
suggestion and they covered a case a while back that has inspired us to take a deeper look into something brought to
light by their fantastic show and we're going to start off by talking about Dr Benjamin Gilmer Dr Ben Benjamin Gilmer
was looking for a smalltown medical clinic where he could establish a medical practice MH well he found it in
200 2009 Dr Benjamin Gilmer set up shop at the Cane Creek Family Clinic but Ben was a little weirded out the clinic was
originally founded and run by a man who shared his occupation and name Dr Benjamin Gilmer would be the second Dr
Gilmore to run the Cane Creek Family Clinic the first was Dr Vince Gilmer and the two were not related in fact they
never even met before Ben took over the practice and Dr Benjamin knew very little about Dr Vince Gilmer but he did
know a couple of things he knew from the patients and staff that Dr Vince was in
fact a very good and caring doctor but he was also a convicted murder then when patients at the clinic
were told that there was was a new Dr Gilmer they were weirded out as well Dr Ben noticed how many of the patients and
staff of the clinic raved about how wonderful Vince Gilmer was Ben heard stories of the caring generous
Dependable doctor and he couldn't reconcile that impression with what he knew to be true that Vince was a violent
confessed murderer right so he started to do some digging looking into Vince's past and even accessing the trial
materials Dr Ben sent a letter to Vince in prison 8 years after the murder and Vince wrote back but Dr Ben was
horrified at the letter he received it was virtually elgible scrolled across the paper as though written by a child
mhm Vince rambled on and on for multiple pages about the effects of SSRI withdrawal one thing Dr Ben could make
out for sure was that the letter was asking for help the two continued to correspond and Vince made it clear in
his letters that he believed he needed Lexapro or Celexa but was not receiving it in
prison now a little side note here to discuss these drugs that that Vince is talking about and the
implications so Lexapro is a drug designed to treat generalized anxiet disorder and depression an important
neurotransmitter chemical in the body serotonin helps to send signals to the brain and is often associated with
contentment or happiness however serotonin is actually linked to many complex functions and regulates
cognition learning memory and other processes if your brain is lacking in serotonin it can impact your mood
anti-depressants work to redress this by increasing serotonin levels these drugs
called selective serotonin reuptake Inhibitors or ssris for short are intended to build up in the body over
time improving depression symptoms if you stop taking them abruptly this could have severe effects including Suicidal
Thoughts agitation and even psychosis so Lexapro is an SS RI now that's just my general garage guy understanding of the
drugs that we are going to be discussing and how they work that's a guy that studied computers yeah that's his
understanding of drugs take that with a grain of salt I guess m eventually Dr Ben and Dr Vince they began conversing
by phone and Dr Ben noticed that Vince's speech was often slurred and he seemed to have extreme trouble articulating
what he was trying to say right and let's be clear this is not just a doctor this is a doctor that is running a
entire clinich mhm and he goes from doing that to barely being able to write a letter barely being able to talk on
the phone and on top of that Vince tells Ben about the uncontrolled movements that he started to exhibit around the
time of his arrest and this continued and it got worse over time Ben decided that an inperson visit to Vince in
prison was in order and he was shocked at what he saw Dr Vince The Prisoner looked very ill mhm he seemed unable to
control his body's jerking and sudden movements and he had trouble talking like a normal person he was also missing
some teeth and he was getting in fights with all the other inmates right he Vince walked with a shuffle he seemed
anxious and paranoid and he was the one that tells Ben about stories of him aggressively attacking other inmates
right in no uncertain terms in these phone calls and visits Vince asked Ben repeatedly and often emotionally for
help he was unable to grasp what was wrong with him and he guess that it was a deficiency in serotonin Vince had been
asking prison officials for years to prescribe him an SSR like Celexa right but he was ignored now Captain let's go
back and take a look right at the once beloved smalltown doctor back in 2004 Dr Vincent Donald Gilmer a Burly balding
41-year-old doctor of Family Medicine worked in Fletcher North Carolina at a small Medical Clinic that he founded the
rural town is about 15 mil from Asheville and catered to the locals in the somewhat isolated area but Vince
wasn't your everyday dispassionate impersonal medical service provider he was truly a member of the community
having chosen Fletcher as the place that he wanted to work and live he was fully
invested in his patients lives and he truly cared yeah he even made house calls I believe yeah he cared to the
point that he not only dedicated his time to meeting with and listening to his patients but he found a way to
diagnose or treat them even if they couldn't afford it some patients received their medications out of free
samples the doctor got from the drug companies some patients received long Grace periods for their bills or large
discounts on necessary Services right and then there's even some stories of situations where if a patient couldn't
pay at all Vince would accept Bartered goods or services like food or work and trade for the doctor
bills and he even gave free checkups to the local firefighters which is a fantastic thing right Dr Vince Gilmore
was known and loved as a generous thoughtful caring man who would buy people presents for no reason or help
anybody out at any time his nickname was Bear because he was known to give great
big bear hugs Dr Vince was married to a woman named Karen she was also a doctor and she started the Cane Creek Family
Health Center with Vince and they worked side by side there the couple didn't have children but they didn't seem to
missed that aspect as they stayed quite busy with their practice and socializing
with their friends this included Vince and Karen's close friend and office manager Terry warley everything seemed
to be as normal as can be as American as apple pie this up until without the cheese on it yeah this up until around
2003 about one year earlier when things began to change and the good doctor began to change so how had this caring
beloved small town doctor morphed into a violent murder seemingly out of the blue
it seemed to be completely totally out of character for Vince Gilmer what possibly could explain this change well
there are some things that one might be able to point to as possible triggers that may have pushed this man to the
Limit and then over for one thing about a year before the murder Vince was in what can only be explained or described
as a serious car accident M he was driving his truck Vince hit a light pole and flipped his truck the vehicle was
total and Vince suffered a significant head injury Vince's office assistant Terry warley saw Vince in the hospital
on the day of the accident she said at first that Vince didn't even know who he was right he didn't recognize his wife
or he didn't even know that he was married mhm after a short period of time Vince was back to his senses and he was
allowed to go home about 24 hours later but it was evident that he had hit his head very hard in this accident right
much later and strangely Terry Express expressed to journalist Sarah kanig of the serial Fame and This American Life
right that she wondered whether Vince had possibly crashed his truck on purpose and I know this seems very
strange but go with me on this she was suspicious for a couple of reasons one she noted that Vince was scheduled to
take his medical boards pretty soon after this accident right to like reinstate yeah is that like I'm guessing
that's some kind of uh confirmation of continued education or or keeping up on your uh knowledge of of your very
important job yeah that's what I think it was okay well she had some suspicion that he couldn't handle that kind of
pressure very well of knowing that these tests were coming up so he was stressed
about that also Terry said Vince wanted a new truck but his wife who handled the
finances was telling him no right so with this accident he was able to postpone taking his boards and got a new
truck right of course and it only almost cost his life right now of course there
is no evidence that Vince's accident was anything or any way deliberate this is just a you know suspicion of someone who
knew Vince quite well this simply could just be what it appears to have been an accident another thing that happened was
Vince divorced his wife Karen right after this accident according to people who knew the couple this was totally out
of the blue yeah but there was some speculation cuz I believe she said that they were having some issues before that
yeah Terry warley who we've discussed says Karen asked Vince to consider counseling before you know ending the
marriage but he says no he doesn't want to do the counseling right and that he actually already had a place to live and
he moved out that weekend when they start discussing the possibility of counseling sometime around this point it
could be just before just after Vince starts drinking quite a bit and he is frequenting bars three or four nights a
week yeah and this is weird too cuz you go did this guy bump his head or is he just having a midlife crisis yes yes
very much so and but keep in mind this is also someone that no one considered him to be a big drinker before this
right you know so we're seeing almost a complete shift in in personality but I mean have you had a friend that has done
that as far as like once they hit middle age they they kind of go off the deep end for a while um I usually they'll buy
a fast car or motorcycle or or you'll see somebody get into a hobby that they've always talked about right he's
getting into a hobby going to bars going going to bars and driving a brand new truck right uh people close to Vince
also noticed that he started behaving differently he was easily distracted and seemed to lose focus very quickly well
and they talk a lot about when somebody has an accident especially when there's head trauma that they can have a shift
in personality mhm yeah and and just overall Behavior yeah that's why I've recommended to you to run your head into
a wall a couple times wow uh one friend personality one friend tells a story in which Vince ran over his dog's tail with
his vehicle this was very likely an accident and he called the friend crying hysterically and what the friend would
later say you know Vince was reacting completely disp disportionately to his to this minor accident for
someone who is a Doctor Who's used to you know stressful situations it is after the divorce and after the car
crash that Vince starts he says he started taking Lexapro now the Washington County
Sheriff told a news show that their department they were unable to locate any prescription for Lexapro issued to
Vince Gilmer so it seems likely that Vince Gilmer was self-medicating yeah but if he's getting he could be getting
a bunch of free samples mhm so maybe he's just taking those in any event the changes in Vince people notice them and
they say these were significant well and think about Ben Gilmer the the guy taking over Vince's practice as he's
talking to these patients and learning a lot about them some of these patients are coming in and saying you know f was
a sweetheart and he loved his wife and the fact that uh that he would even want to divorce his wife is strange mhm and
then you're being compared to him people were saying you look like him you act like him right uh you're you're a saint
like him and then to hear all these little stories I didn't have you know maybe insurance and he and he SL you
know gave me some uh samples to get me by mhm I mean that's what you're hearing and that's
what you're seeing every day and then but there's this other side to this doctor mhm you know almost
like ja and Hyde well and this is weird too I mean it's obviously very weird but
I think everybody out there think about your own personal life and your own work
history for a minute many of us have walked into a job that we sought that we were lucky to get hired for and you are
interacting with customers who worked with the person that you replaced you are working with co-workers and bosses
of people that worked with the person that you replaced and you this it's very normal to hear a lot about the person
that that worked at that position before and even hear situations of you being compared to that person right and
the the weird thing here is not only do they share the same occupation not only do they share the same goals of running
this practice of this Clinic they share the same last name and the really weird thing here is you have two very smart
individuals Dr Vince Gilmer and then Dr Benjamin Gilmer and you almost have a situation
where Dr Benjamin Gilmer is trying to make sense at out of what the heck happened to the guy he replaced mhm
hearing these wonderful stories from from the the uh patients and from the staff and then can you can you imagine
being a a patient and you're like yeah I read about man my doctor was arrested for a murder right and then the next
time I go in for a checkup uh Dr Gilmore would be in to see you shortly right I like a lot of people
thought it was a prank what what happened I I read about that in the paper they let him out but then you have
Dr Benjamin Gilmer who's trying to make sense out of something that happened to the guy that that he's replacing well I
think some of that too is like we kind of have a fear of that I think when you think of of these horror stories or
these urban legends when you look at like the Amityville Horror it was this whole thing where the family moves into
a house and then the the crazy guy that lived in the house before now the father
is becoming crazy just like he was you know what I mean and you're going oh no you know like and so I think maybe part
of Benjamin's thought was am I going to become this guy right which doesn't sound like a sane thought but no but who
knows we've all seen The Shining right and I think Dr benjaman Gilmer he saw it a lot I think he referred to it on This
American Life as there's there's a ghost in this building there's a ghost in this
Clinic the ghost of Dr Vince Gilmer or the ghost of something you know he can't really put his finger on yeah or the
possible fear of what if this guy gets out and does he come looking for me yeah does he know about me I know about him
he's on the inside does he know about me and and then you have a guy that did some uh pretty insane
stuff and is this guy going to kind of freak out because a Dr Gilmer took his place mhm wasn't there even a story
where where some somebody gave some information or passed something along to the staff there that said hey I heard Dr
Vince Gilmer's getting out of prison soon yeah like a technicality or something yeah yeah so could you imagine
constantly like double to see and and you don't know this guy you've just seen pictures of him you never met him in
person mhm so that' be pretty pretty intense well as we said the changes to Dr Vince Gilmer people noticed this they
were significant changes in his personality and his behavior and then the murder happened and it became even
clear that there was something very wrong with Dr Vince Gilmer this show is sponsored by better help do
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when you Angie that all right cheers mates and a big cheers to My Buddy Joe which I got a
text last night that they had a baby oh congratulations Anna so I hope everybody's doing well and Joe's a great
guy so cheers to you Joe all right I think we have set this up pretty good so far we have talked about Dr Ben Gilmer
taking over the practice him learning about the previous doctor Vince Gilmer the two sharing letters phone
conversations and Ben even visiting Vince in prison we have talked about some of the events in Vince's life that
led up to the murder but we are yet to talk about the murder so on the day in question this is a Monday June 28th
2004 Vince Gilmer told his office manager Terry to close the clinic early on this day afterward Vince left to
drive to Bron Hospital Bron hospital is a psychiatric facility located about 60 miles away from
Morganton Vince was going there to pick up his father right Vince's father Dalton Gilmer aged 60 was a resident at
Bron hospital now I don't fully know the ins and outs of why Dalton was a patient
at this psychiatric hospital but court records indicate that Dalton could barely walk he used a wheelchair or
Walker and he was on antis psychotic medication and did he have some form of dementia well so one of Vince's former
patients later told a reporter that Dalton had Alzheimer's right so it's possible that that he may have had that
or possible that Vince told people that he had Alzheimer's but we don't know whether that's the actual case or
whether suffered from some different physical Affliction or just mental impairment now but the key thing here is
Dalton needed assistance to perform everyday functions such as bathing eating and getting dressed right okay so
apparently Vince picked up his father that day as part of a plan he said to move Dalton to a nursing facility closer
to Cane Creek presumably so that Vince could visit his father more often on Tuesday June 29th Vince returned to work
at can Creek Family Medical Center he told Terry you know one of the staff members there and others on his staff
that he had brought his father Dalton home with him on Monday but that Dalton wandered off during the night and he
hadn't been able to locate him yet Vince said that he filled out a he filed a police report which he which he did um
but this was not technically until June 30th the the report that I saw says June
30th as the date but Vince continued to work as normal that day seeing his first
patient of the day Terry's son for astho right on schedule at 9:00 a.m. he seemed
completely normal according to those who interacted with him that day he did not
seem at all anxious or worried despite the fact that his elderly ailing father was missing at this time in fact he
completely he was completely normal all week long even taking the staff out to lunch on Friday at a spot that they
liked called ianucci it was while he was at this lunch that Dr Vince Gilmer received a
phone call this call was from Washington County Virginia Sheriff's Department Detective Mike Martin and informing
Vince that a body had been found in Virginia Terry warley reported afterwards that upon hearing this news
Vince nearly fainted he turned Ashen and had to lie down on a bench at the restaurant
someone brought him a cold compress they're trying to tend to the doctor to everyone present it seemed that Vince
was reeling from the shock of the loss of his father right he was unable to continue to converse with Detective
Martin and insisted that Terry take over the phone call Washington County Sheriff Fred
Newman later told the media that Vince Gilmer's hysterical reaction well he considered this to be overthe toop quote
he was just torn all to pieces more so than was actually normal he said authorities made arrangements for
detective we also have him overreacting to running over his dog's tail that's true that's very true authorities made
arrangements for detective Martin to meet with Vince at his home when the time came for the arranged meeting
between Vince and detective Martin detective Martin says that Vince was polite and composed asking no questions
and showing no emotion here is detective Martin in his own words about what went
down in this meeting quote during the interview at Mr Gilmer's home he told me that he had
brought his father to North Carolina to stay with him and that upon their arrival that Dalton was so delighted to
be there they had went out into the yard and played with the dog throwing a frisbee I already knew that could not be
true because the people at Bron Hospital told me that Mr Gilmer senior could not have walked on his own at any
time he said you don't believe me what I'm telling you I said no sir not at all not in the least I do not believe you I
said the very questions that any person would be asking in reference to his parents' death you've not
asked which is an excellent indicator that you already know he wasn't scared he wasn't
agitated he told me he said look he said you don't know who you are messing with
he said I am a doctor of medicine I am well respected in the state of North Carolina and I will have your damn job I
said sir it is my job to do the investigation and based on what I know I will consult with the Commonwealth
Attorney and I will ask for a warrant for your arrest for murder when we left we said sir thank you for your time
and he closed the door and never said a [Music] word so a heated exchange between the
doctor and the detective yeah an interesting exchange as well because what I find fascinating here is you have
a very much seasoned detective somebody that's that done the job for quite some time and his first reaction is saying
you know he's he's just saying what he's thinking he's saying look doctor I told you that your your father
is dead you're not asking certain questions that through my experience in conducting this job I'm used to hearing
right you know but again that's we always assume how people are supposed to act no I know that but but there's
there's some indicators here that are interesting to me right because we don't we only have this small window of their
interaction this little heated exchange here what we don't have is some of the questions and interaction that may have
led up to this but what I'm thinking that the detective is finding interesting and that he may have found
his first suspect is look if if I tell you that your father died and you don't ask me
well how did he die that's weird I already know it's could to be just like well that's that's what dying on the
crap no but that's what the detective is simply saying to the doctor is that because you're not asking me certain
questions that indicates to me that you already know the answer to a lot of these questions that I would expect you
to be asking there I think there was probably something else happening though because if somebody said that my father
died or or or a grandparent died or something like that there I mean there's been times that people have told me this
stuff and and I don't know exactly what to react you know like or how to react so there isn't a reaction of what
happened because I'm just contemplating oh crap they're gone you know but I mean
we might get to that eventually you know in this same exchange though we have Dr
Gilmore saying hey this is what happened when I last saw my father and the detective outright saying look that
cannot be true cannot be true that your your father was out playing with the dog
in the yard right based on what I've been told by the people that were taking care of him at the facility that you
placed him that can't be true the man can't dress himself he can't feed himself he can't walk without assistance
he's not out in the dog in the yard throwing the Frisbee with the dog right he seems like there there Comes A Time
and my grandpa used to talk about this all the time is when he'd go to the nursing homes or the fa facilities where
they have older patients M and they there was nothing that they could do for the patient and they didn't have enough
staff to like be oneon-one with the patient so they basically get the patient dressed and wheel the patient
out into the hallway yeah you make them comfortable and try to yeah yeah I mean it's aw it's awful so well you and I
will be there in about three or five years yeah two and a half two and a half at this pace well in the course of this
meeting detectives they did search Vince Gilmer's home this was due to a warrant
that they brought with them that day now it was not known exactly what was found
but we do know that the police collected a receipt from a local Wallmart dated early on the morning of June 29th which
showed the purchase of five bottles of peroxide the cops they presumed that this meant that Vince had used the
peroxide to clean something up right and in combination with the perceived lies about Dalton playing
frisbee with the dog the cops had enough for an arrest warrant for first-degree murder which they obtained and returned
to execute but after the meeting with Detective Martin and a search of his home by law enforcement Dr Vince Gilmer
had not acted like an innocent man instead of mourning his father's passing he packed up some basic camping gear and
fled when he was finally found chased down and arrested he was living in a tent behind a Lowe's Home Improvement
store in the uh at the Asheville Mall so you want to get in touch with nature but not too far not too far right
you want to be close to a dumpster in some public restrooms yeah police received a tip from an unknown source
that Vince was hiding out in the area uh and that's how they tracked him down now
when they approached him or attempted to do so he ran from police through the wooded area behind the Lowe's building
hiding behind trees and this is like a dark forested area right but look in the initial let's say confrontation between
the detective and the doctor they have to be seeing that something's not right not only is he not acting like an
innocent man or a grieving son he's just acting a little strange as well M they have to see that now we have the this
doctor again a doctor right right a smart guy right super smart guy and a guy that's trying
I mean cops and firefighters are close that's normally a close-knit organization um even though they're kind
of separate entities they they know each other really well so they'd hear about him doing all these checkups for free on
the firefighters mhm and now we have this situation where this guy is after his dad is dead and we we think he's our
number one suspect that it's murder he has a tent behind Lowe's and then when they go to arrest
him he's running from them yeah there has to be red flags well and he's already threatened the detective I mean
as soon as the detective is up front and says look man I don't believe you to put
it as Frank as possible look man I don't believe you the doctor then immediately
like you said pointed out goodbye you a smart guy he immediately jumps into threatening the detective of do you know
who I am do you know how important I am I can have I'll have your damn job I'll have you fired right for this accusation
so we have Dr Gilmore and he is running from the cops yeah from his little tent site yeah in a wooded area in the middle
of the night mhm and when police Searchers finally sent in a canine Vince charged the dog and the police Handler
and it was said by an officer on the scene that Vince Gilmer charged at the officer in K9 with absolutely no
expression on his face he's lucky he didn't get shot Vince Gilmore was finally apprehended around 1 a.m. so this
desperate and somewhat pitiful flight from Justice was just the tip of the iceberg
on July 6th Vince Gilmer was charged with the first-degree murder of his father Dalton Gilmer what came out about
the killing and the arrest shocked everyone in the community when Dalton Gilmer's body was found it was
determined that he was strangled to death the implement used was a rope an autopsy confirmed death by rope
strangulation the medical examiner specifically noted that Dalton Gilmer had been strangled twice
there were two distinct rope marks visible on his throat the body was discarded at the
side of Good Hope Road near the Virginia Tennessee Border in Washington County on
the Virginia side not five miles from a medical clinic where Dr Vince Gilmer had
previously practiced years before the body had been found where it was still it was still worn by a
resident right who was driving home from the movies just after midnight the body
was lying visibly on the side of the road dressed in shorts and a pulled up t-shirt the no shoes no teeth now I I do
want to make a side note of this because there doesn't seem to be from the articles I could find there doesn't seem
to be any indication that teeth were removed from the victim it's very likely that Mr Dalton Gilmore may have had
Dentures at his old a you know in these were just removed right um there was also no wallet present it was quickly
identified by clothing labels however reading Dalton Gilmer right because he was in the hospital yeah these these
labels were stamped with Dalton's name inside his polo shirt collar and shorts around the waistband labels that
actually his son Vince had arranged to have attached to help identify Dalton's clothing at the psychiatric hospital
from that of the other patients Vince must have forgotten about these identifying labels because before
dumping the body he severed all 10 of his father's fingers with what some have said to be medical Precision cutting off
each digit right at the base of the Palm he used what he later described as a little Saul to do this the instrument
has also been referred to as a set of pruning shears the fingers have never been
found now the medical examiner determined that it was likely that that Vince the killer had initially strangled
Dalton but that Dalton was still alive and came to and when Vince started to se sever the fingers this is probably when
he came to right cuz there was blood on his body and clothes indicating that his
heart was still pumping when some of the fingers were being cut off right so Vince that's the second strangulation
right Vince strangled him a second time this to com to complete the task I guess
a rubber surgical glove was found in the road near Dalton's corpse so what this suggests very obviously with the
removing of the fingers with the removal of what I believe to be Dentures with finding no wallet is very
simply somebody dumping a body dumping a murder victim right and trying to make it difficult for them to be identified
however we have the situation where we have the name of the victim stamped on the labels and the clothing yeah and
maybe that's just something he forgot about mhm but obviously like you said the removal of
teeth could just not have had hise on him that day but the removal of the fingers I mean it gets me every time
yeah you know especially as a guitar player well the another thing that I find strange about this situation too is
now I now I understand that they drove some distance from um where he picked up his father so
that indicates further trying to conceal the identity of the victim right but what kind of shocks me here is mind you
we've we've both agreed multiple times that we're talking about a smart guy the murderer is a smart guy and the efforts
taken to cover up or hide the identity of his father of his victim it it's almost shocking to me
that the body's just left on the side of the road mhm that there wasn't some further you know concealment of that to
begin with but we have again this is way out of character for him anyways to be committing a crime
like this and so this should be out of character for for for damn near everybody well well not the people on
our show yeah this is in character there was some other information that started
to come out around this time after uh Vince's arrest uh one bit of information Vince had been his father uh Dalton's
legal guardian something that is obviously pretty common in a case where a parent becomes incompetent or is
living in a facility as part of his guardianship Vince was in charge of handling Dalton's
money this responsibility included paying the cost associated with Dalton's Psychiatric Hospital impatient status
but when Dalton was killed it came out that he owed Bron Hospital over $270,000 Vince had not been paying his
father's bills we don't know whether he he kept the money for himself or even whether he ever withdrew it from
Dalton's account at all right perhaps this is how Vince was able to afford possibly cutting his patience so
many breaks right who knows but but either way new truck yeah either way well he would have got something from
the the insurance I'm guessing but either way he owed a lot of money for his father's Care at the time of this
murder yeah but just because you kill him doesn't mean that that bill goes away well another thing that looked bad
for Vince Gomer was a trip to Alaska that he had planned now we don't know exactly when he booked this trip but the
timing of the trip coincided with his father's being released from the hospital now this is how this has been
reported it's unclear exactly what dates the trip was planned for Terry warley the office manager at the clinic says
she had booked the roundtrip ticket to Alaska at Vince Gilmer's request but detectives discovered that at some point
at some time after that someone had changed the ticket to a oneway ticket now it's unclear whether Vince just
decided not to go or whether this is probably more likely uh he probably had plans of going to Alaska
and never coming back you know much better plan than hiding out behind the Lowe's Home Improvement store do you
think possibly a little bit better of a vacation the other interesting thing here too Captain is later when asked
Vince said he could not recall having any plans to go to Alaska that's not like you know it's not like
taking a trip down the road this is this is going to Alaska and booking a round trip ticket right but did did he seem
believable when he was saying he didn't know about this I I don't know because there's I didn't see like an interview
or you know interrogation or anything of that process right just the simple statement of them saying yeah we asked
about Alaska we asked about the the one-way ticket to Alaska and he basically just says yeah don't I don't
recall any plans having any plans to go to Alaska the tricky thing too that makes this a little could be difficult
for investigators is initially the tickets were booked by the office assistant and I mean Vince's office assistant well
she she says Vince requested this of of her but I mean it does make it a little tricky
now finally investigators on the case said that Vince told them that when he picked up his father from the hospital
to bring him to a new nursing home because that's what he was supposed to do he was supposed to pick him up at
Bron hospital and transfer him to another hospital closer to Vince's home as we said presumably to make it more
convenient on the son visiting the father but later after his arrest he's saying hey look when I went to pick up
him up I promised my father that we would stop first for a quick Lake kaying outing Vince said his father once lived
near little Wilbur Lake in Carter County Tennessee and Vince thought the kayaking
outing would be soothing would be nice nice thing to do for his father now a green kayak was apparently seen in the
truck in Vince's truck that day but remember Dalton couldn't walk and reports are that there was no Walker
found right detectives were highly skeptical of this kayak story especially as when Vince picked up Dalton it was
already getting toward the evening hours in fact they said Vince had picked up Dalton that day with the Rope the gloves
and saw or pruning shears already in his truck police believed that this was not
a spur of the moment killing in their minds this was pre-planned premeditated murder all right if you need more of the
garage check out our old episode starting from episode 1 back in what 2015 mhm seems like just yesterday we
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This American Doctor /// Part 1 /// 288

Part 1 of 2

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The psyche of a murderer has fascinated us for centuries. At the center of this week’s case we have a small-town doctor, beloved by his community. The doctor suddenly and without warning commits a heinous and brutal murder of someone close to him. What drove this seemingly gentle and caring man to kill. This week we discuss the case of Dr. Vince Gilmer Beer of the Week - Bourbon Barrel Aged Milk & Cookies by Wicked Weed Brewing Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Dr. Vince Gilmer, a small-town doctor, murders his father amid mental health struggles and a shocking investigation unfolds.

Key points

Rosetta Stone's Language Learning Impact. Discover how Rosetta Stone helps you have real conversations in 25 languages.
True Crime Garage Introduction. Join hosts Nick and the Captain as they dive into this week's true crime case.
The Transformation of Dr. Vince Gilmer. A beloved small-town doctor suddenly commits a brutal murder. What drove him to this?
Vince Gilmer's Disturbing Behavior. After his father's death, Vince's actions raised suspicions of foul play.
The Shocking Murder of Dalton Gilmer. Dalton Gilmer was found strangled to death, shocking the community.
The Gruesome Discovery. Dalton's body was found with severe injuries, raising questions about Vince's involvement.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What drives seemingly normal people to do horrible things?

Question about the psyche of murderers.

4:09WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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