Sherman Mccrary

Serial Killer

Sherman McCrary and the Donut Shop Murders

Overview

Sherman Ramon McCrary was the patriarch of a violent, nomadic crime family responsible for a series of robberies, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and murders during the early 1970s. McCrary committed crimes alongside his son-in-law, Raymond Carl Taylor, who was commonly known as Carl Taylor. Other members of the household, including McCrary's wife, Carolyn, his daughter Ginger, and his son Danny, were accused of participating in or assisting with portions of the family's criminal activity. The group traveled through numerous states in old vehicles and trailers, surviving through temporary employment, theft, fraud, and armed robbery. Their most notorious crimes involved entering small restaurants, coffee shops, and doughnut shops late at night. McCrary and Taylor frequently selected businesses staffed by young women working alone. After stealing money, they sometimes abducted the employee so that she could not identify them. The captive would then be taken to an isolated area, sexually assaulted, and murdered. The killings became known as the Donut Shop Murders because several victims disappeared from doughnut shops or similar late-night businesses. Newspapers also used the name Full Moon Murders after investigators noticed that several crimes had occurred near the time of a full moon. Although authorities investigated the family in connection with more than twenty deaths, Sherman McCrary was convicted of only one murder.

Known and Suspected Victims

• Sheri Lee Martin, 17 August 12, 1971 South Salt Lake, Utah: Sheri was working a summer job at a Winchell's Donut House on South State Street when she disappeared during the early morning hours of August 12. Money was missing from the business, and investigators concluded that she had been abducted during a robbery. Her body was found on September 6, 1971, in a remote desert area near Wendover, Nevada. She had been shot. Sherman McCrary and Carl Taylor were later identified as the two men seen inside the shop shortly before Sheri vanished. The precise time of her death could not be medically established, but investigators believed she was killed shortly after her abduction.
• Leeora Rose Looney, 20 August 20, 1971 Lakewood, Colorado: Leeora was working alone at a doughnut shop when McCrary and Taylor entered the business. The cash register was found open, approximately $100 was missing, and Leeora's purse and automobile remained at the shop. She had been abducted. Her body was discovered three days later in an isolated field approximately 200 miles away. She had been strangled, sexually assaulted, and shot in the head with a .32-caliber firearm. Ballistic evidence connected the weapon used against Leeora to other suspected crimes attributed to the McCrary-Taylor family. Sherman McCrary was eventually convicted of Leeora's kidnapping and murder.
• Elizabeth Josephine "Betty Jo" Steffens Perryman, 26 late September 1971 Lubbock, Texas: Elizabeth disappeared while working a nighttime shift at a Toddle House coffee shop in Lubbock. Her husband discovered the restaurant abandoned, with indications that she had been taken against her will. Elizabeth's remains were recovered approximately three months later outside the city. Her exact date of death was never conclusively determined, although investigators believed she was killed soon after her late-September disappearance. Both Sherman McCrary and Carl Taylor later separately confessed to killing her, but the statements did not result in a murder conviction, and her case was ultimately closed without a final judicial resolution.

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Confirmed Victims: (3)

Sheri Martin , Date of Death: 1971-08-12

The Long Afterlife of a Terrible Crime | The New Yorker