The 1957 Hobbs Triple Murder Recounted by Granddaughter Amber Clemmons-Bean

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amber Clemmons-Bean is Barbara Clemmons' granddaughter and family advocate, Amber has become a dedicated voice for justice in her grandmother’s unsolved murder case. She continues to work to seek answers, keeping the case alive and raising awareness.

In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, sits down with Amber Clemmons Bean, Barbara’s granddaughter to dissect the tragic events of July 23rd, 1957, in Hobbs, New Mexico, where Dorothy Gibson, Barbara Clemmons, and J.D. Cantrell were brutally murdered. Dorothy and Barbara, both 23 and divorced, were found dead after being shot, following a night out and a flat tire on Highway 180. J.D. Cantrell, a truck driver who stopped to help, was shot eight times. The motives appear unclear, with no signs of robbery or sexual assault, while revenge seems the likely cause. Sheryl and Amber discuss potential motives, challenges in the investigation, and the emotional toll on the victims’ families.

Show Notes:

(0:00) Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum
(0:10) Sheryl introduces the triple homicide in Hobbs, New Mexico
(1:25) The crime scene and initial investigation
(2:20) Victim profiles and possible motives
(3:20) Sheryl introduces guest, Amber Clemmons-Bean to Zone 7
(4:15) Theories and speculations
(7:45) Details of the night before the murders
(10:00) Crime scene analysis and evidence
(15:45) Challenges in the investigation
(20:30) Amber's ongoing fight for justice
(30:30) Conclusion and future steps
(31:00) “Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public.”
Thanks for listening to another episode! If you love the show and want to help grow the show, please head over to iTunes and leave a rating and review!

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.

Social Links:

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum

Instagram: @officialzone7podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Case 947 out of Hobbs, New Mexico.
0:14.1	It was July 23, 1957, a Tuesday at 4 a.m.
0:21.1	Dorothy Gibson and Barbara Lemons were traveling together from Carlsbad to Hobbs, New Mexico on Highway 180.
0:29.9	They were in a 1952 Plymouth.
0:32.8	They had a flat tire.
0:34.7	They pulled just off the roadway, and that is when J.D. Cantrell, driving his
0:40.5	work truck, pulled his rig off the road, left it running with a light zone and it appears
0:47.7	that J.D. was in the process of changing the tires when he was shot and killed.
0:55.0	J.D. had been shot eight times with a small caliber weapon.
0:59.0	The two females were not at the scene
1:03.0	when a Good Samaritan rolled up and found J.D.
1:07.0	Inside their car, sheriff's deputies found their purses and shoes and an ID. The scene also
1:16.3	showed a powerful struggle. J.D. had left his home about 3.10 a.m. And again, his body was found by
1:25.6	four. The two women were later found off Highway 238.
1:32.7	Both had been shot, and it appeared to be a 22 weapon.
1:38.0	An old field worker found them right at the Buckeye cutoff.
1:43.6	The two female victims had been out the night before with a male friend.
1:49.0	They drove him home to Carlsbad and were headed back to Hobbs when they had the flat tire.
1:55.9	The area where they were found is flat, hot, full of tumbleweeds and cactus. The victims, Dorothy Gibson,
2:05.5	was 23, divorced, lived in a small house at 225 South Coleman. Barbara Lemons, also 23 and divorced.
2:19.3	We're going to get back to Barbara in a second.
2:24.6	J.D. Cantrell was married, a truck driver, and a father.
	...

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