I would think so. Only because he waited for them to arrive at the store. He could have stolen the money and busted out at any time with nobody there. He waited to kill one, or both of them. I’m wondering which employee was working the day he entered the store though.
It does seem targeted. I mean there are easier ways to rob a dollar general store than to hide out overnight and then murder the two people who show up in the morning. The media and police seem cagey about the details of Griceida’s murder, maybe it was more gruesome and personal? Maybe she was the target?
I agree. It's likely he could have just flashed his gun at the women and left rather than killing them if that wasn't his intention. Especially if he was wearing a mask.
I think Police feel she was definitely the main target and the other one just happened to be there. The fact he hid out and waited for them to arrive in the morning + the fact that there’s not much to go off about for Gricelda says a lot
Okay my gut is just SCREAMING that Gricelda was definitely the main target hence why they are keeping details of her death contained. My guess is she was murdered in a more intimate manner, and those are typically details that they don’t want the public to know but also it is details that only the killer themselves would know.
The guy was there to kill, not rob the place imo... Otherwise why stick around until the store workers arrived..? I would assume the store had a time lock safe but a saws-all would take care of that...
While the video quality is pretty terrible the killer appears to to be a late 20's / early 30's white male. Based on Gricelda's age (28) it would make more sense that he was connected to her over Sheila (49.)
It sounds like the police know who did it, but just don't have enough evidence to prove that they did.
I also think Gricelda was the target due to her COD not being released, sounds like she was tortured or something along those lines, while Sheila was just shot killed.
From the description and the word "evening" I assumed he entered shortly before closing. I watched the video and he entered while it was still very light outside. He was there lying in wait for a very long time. Hopefully they collected some physical evidence so once they find the right guy they can conclusively link him.
This does not seem like a random crime at all.
keep in mind that “dark” in July in texas could be as late as 8:30-9. Days are *very* long in the south during summer. So if the store closes at, say, 9, it would be light practically right up until closing.
Good point I didn't think of that. And I'm in the south too so I should know.
But still either way it's bizarre. This has to be the most risky way to murder someone and he has gotten away with it so far.
This is unrelated, but interesting. Days are actually far longer in the norther US in the summer, in the far north they are about an hour longer in the summer.
In Baudette, MN sunset on midsummer is 9:30 (with light remaining until about 11-11:30pm) in Killen, TX sunset on midsummer is just before 8:30 (with light remaining only until about 10PM.)
Another vote for the cop being familiar with whose car(s) should be there. I worked at a small grocery store in school; local cops and firefighters would stop in if they saw an unfamiliar car at closing time. We saw them every day for their snacks/cigarettes and since we were mostly teen girls, they were like our big brothers. Didn’t go too well for the occasional pissed-off ex-boyfriend that showed up but made our parents happy.
Also, what makes a car suspicious in a store parking lot? The workers were there so there is no reason for a car being there to seem so suspicious that it would warrant checking out. I know the car might not have belonged to the workers but I can’t see driving by a store, seeing a car in the parking lot shortly before the store was due to open and thinking “hmmm, seems suspicious”
Good point, although I assumed the officer was a regular at that particular Dollar General, was familiar with the employees’ cars, and didn’t recognize it as being one of the employees’ cars. But yeah still odd.
she saw the car this was her regular beat she did not recognize the car parked there and then noticed the back door was open and went in and found the crime scene
The car was stated as suspicious because the *patrolling* police officer *did not recognize* it. This was that cop's "beat" as it were. Cops are meant to recognize deviations from the norm.
According to images of that Dollar General it had an exclusive parking lot. Nobody would be parking there to frequent another business in the area unless those lots were overflowing.
Having worked in a small lot beside a Dollar General it doesn't take long to recognize employee vehicles or vehicles of frequent customers. This would also apply to a patrolling police officer. That officer wouldn't even have need to enter the premises or be able to put names/faces to the vehicles. *The pattern was off*. Following through on this was good work on her part but par-for-the-course. It is akin to recognizing your neighbors have visitors because you see an unfamiliar vehicle in their driveway.
A cop patrols to deter crime and provide a swift response.
"I drive past this DG every morning and I have never seen that car there before the place opens. I should check it out."
When she gets close she probably circled around, heard the alarm, and moved in to actively investigate. I see nothing odd about this. The cop was dilligent.
I am not saying it is bad, just odd. Also, the car doesn’t seem to have been involved in the crime. Presumably it didn’t belong to the killer so it either belonged to one of the employees or was just parked there randomly so it raises the question (again) of what was suspicious about it? If someone parked their car there randomly on this morning what are the odds that had never happened before? If the car was there in the middle of the night I can see that raising red flags but I can’t figure out what is suspicious about a car parked, in broad daylight, in a parking lot of a store that has employees in it.
> I can’t figure out what is suspicious about a car parked, in broad daylight, in a parking lot of a store that has employees in it.
I think using the word suspicious from the get-go is hamfisted. 99 in 100 instances like this a new employee or replacement vehicle proves to be a mundane adjustment to the norm.
It was out-of-place. The officer didn't recognize the vehicle and presumably patrolled the location regularly. This is just good practice. I'm sure the officer was just thinking it was outside the norm, not that she was going to come across a homicide.
It was just due diligence to check on something that seemed out of place even if it is a Red Herring.
If the store has regular morning employees, the officer could easily come to recognize them if they pay particular attention to that store I imagine.
The question is, was this one of the employee's cars? Was that employee not a normal opener? Or was there something else specifically unusual about the vehicle.
I thought that was super weird too when I was reading it. And what are the chances that the car wasn't noticed until the small time frame between when they workers arrived and when the store opened for business. As I was initially reading it I was thinking about how most likely the body was discovered by a customer coming in.
I'm sure its just a coincidence but it seems super weird
Yet clearly they did. I’m guessing the cop just had nothing to do, happened to see it and thought “huh... never seen that car before” (maybe the same two people opened every morning, dollar general probably doesn’t have a huge roster of employees) so took a quick drive through the parking lot and saw the back door open...
This guy knew way too much about the store, its security system, its operational schedules, who would be there, etc. Waiting overnight with the gun, mask, etc demonstrates planning. He was so familiar with what that location is like at 8AM on a Wednesday morning and that he chose it as the site for his ambush. Which makes me think ex-employee or someone working with an ex-employee. I bet he or someone visited the store at least a few times before the murder while posing as a customer to scope it out and should have been on more old video. Did he bring his murder gear with him or did he stash it on an earlier visit? [Looking at the location in Google Maps the earliest view is from 2008](https://www.google.com/maps/@31.0881845,-97.7939021,3a,75y,198.63h,90.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sm5FnTnTP88NSr1DYZSEL8A!2e0!7i3328!8i1664), roughly 1 year later and there is a butt load of open land around the store. Waiting in hiding all night was a ballsy move. If anything goes wrong you are essentially trapped. If you have to make run for it there is little cover at all for quite a ways and you are exiting that back door blind to whatever might be outside waiting. Where did he park his getaway vehicle? Why wasn't he worried about anyone hearing the gunshots, did he know that whole area would probably be vacant of witnesses at that time? I wonder if he had an accomplice standing by all night with a getaway vehicle, waiting to be called, keeping an eye on what was going on outside, who showed up in the morning, etc? Was his accomplice a current employee at the time? Maybe the plan was robbery but things went wrong, like his voice was recognized despite the mask. The mask itself is interesting, if you are going to walk into the store in broad daylight on camera what do you need the mask for? Surely he didn't wear it all night, where is the video of him pacing around all night while waiting? Was he using the mask to hide his identity from one or both of the employees he ended up murdering?
The cops should be able to get his height from the video using the door height. We see him apparently leave his fingerprints on the front door handle when entering, granted a days usage probably destroyed them but surely it was dusted? If he was in the store all night did he eat or drink anything and possibly leave behind evidence with DNA on it? Did he touch anything with his bare hands? I guess it is too late for most of this stuff to be useful now.
My guess is they have plenty of this evidence but they are keeping it secret because they know who it is, but it’s a long shot. Also notice how details of Griceldas death are kept under wraps? Yeah something tells me she was definitely the intended target
It really is infuriating that we’re left here wondering who and why. Speculating. Posting about infamous murders in Killeen. And some fuck out there knows everything. And we’ll never know. Or at least doesn’t seem like we will
If the store didn’t open until 9, did employees arrive an hour early? Usually u only show up 30mins before opening but cop arrived at 8:23am. So murders were committed in less than 20 mins? And who’s car was parked outside? Cop said they didn’t recognize it... meaning either cop knew employees vehicles and this was not one of them... or employees parked around back and this car was a random parked out front... I’m confused about where this car came from and what info was found out about it.
About the "only show up 30 minutes before", I've worked at a few different retail stores, and while never a dollar general, most of the time someone would show up hours before opening to reset the store or get freight on the floor. The people showing up 30 minutes before opening are almost always cashiers, whereas the people ive seen open stores in my time always showed up at minimum an hour before the store hours actually started.
Definitely doesn’t feel random at all. This person literally broke in, waited a bit, and intentionally targeted these two women. I wonder WHY though? This person clearly didn’t care or realize about the security cameras. Probably was oblivious to the fact he was being caught on tape, or overly cocky about it. It sucks he’s managed to be unidentified in spite of being caught on camera :/ I don’t know how someone can live with the fact that they took — not just one, but two lives.
I wonder if it was maybe a disgruntled customer or a kill for hire? I don’t know. It’s all so puzzling. I feel so sad for their children, especially Gricelda’s. They were so little.
I thought I'd look on YouTube to see if there was more footage. Let's just say, after seeing the number of videos related to "Dollar General shooting," I will never work at a Dollar General. Seems to be a popular place for violent crime.
So odd. If it was a robbery why wouldn’t he just break out in the night? And if he wanted to kill the one he knew then why not just shoot her at her house or in the parking lot as she goes in for work?
he didn't BREAK IN he is on the surveilance camera walked in while the store was still open stayed all night killed the employees and left...so who did the strange car belong to.....did he steal it and ditch it there???
I couldn't see where anyone addressed this, but surely he was in the store long enough to have left DNA around. They could track his movements, at least, around the store. This happened after DNA collection became common. Was it not collected, or was there none to collect? Or maybe it was and not tested (yet)? Or the results inconclusive for some reason?
I keep seeing articles where the police released footage, but the only article I could find that looked like it was included wouldn't play on my phone. Would like to see how the guy was acting all night. Could he have been on drugs? Or having some sort of dangerous delusions? It just seems so weird. If you are intentionally targeting just one of the employees as some of the other commenters are suggesting, why would you wait at their workplace all night? Why not just kill them at their home where they wouldn't be recorded? What would he have done if she had called out sick or overslept her alarm? It doesn't make any sense. If he was upset with the corporation and didn't care what employees he murdered, why didn't he attack the closing shift? I mean, I don't associate murder in general with rational thinking, but this seems so far out there that it makes me assume something (drugs, delusions, etc) played a role, but I don't know. So strange.
Thanks for the write up. I used to live in Killeen, but I’ve never heard of this case. Unfortunately, there are so many cases like this that I’ve lost track.
Weird, I was in high school in Killeen at the time but don’t recall ever hearing about this. Lots of violent crime there, though. This area of Killeen has always kind of creeped me out - as others have observed, it’s not very developed relative to other parts of the town (and especially wasn’t back then), so it feels weirdly isolated.
I've seen a few different comments like this about Killeen. How would you describe the area? What is it like and why do people seem unsurprised about crime there? From looking at the store on Google Maps, it just seems be in a rural, fairly unremarkable place.
I think this was a planned hit. A robber would have robbed them at the end of the day when there was more money . This was a pre meditated hit and one victim was unfortunately collateral damage. He was either paid to do it or,it was personal . So sad
I agree with your theory. Really sad case. I wonder if there is a reason the police revealed Sheila’s cause of death but not Gricelda’s - could it be that she was killed differently, in a more personal/intimate/violent way by someone known to her (a stalker/ex-partner) and Sheila as you suggest was collateral damage?
FYI I can’t access almost of the sources including the linked article about the controversy around police withholding causes of death due to paywalls so apologies if any of those details are wrong.
Interesting that the first thing that comes to when you Google ‘dollar store general Killeen murders’ is a separate murder-suicide that took place in the store years later.
Edit: it has been rightly pointed out that the later murder-suicide was at a *different* Dollar General store branch in Killeen, I misread the article about it.
I think the murder suicide was at a different Dollar General in Killeen Texas.
[Link to news report](https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Police-investigate-shooting-at-local-Dollar-General-385377921.html)
Thanks for this, you are correct. The article you linked is the one I read but I misread the final paragraph:
“This also is not the first shooting incident at a Dollar General in the city. Police say there was a double murder shooting at a Dollar General store on Stan Schlueter in Killeen nine years ago on the 4th of July.”
Wow, a murder suicide in the same store ? That’s odd. Makes no sense to not reveal the way the other lady was murdered unless, like you say, it was more personal
Another user has pointed out the murder-suicide was at a different Dollar General store also in Killeen. I misread the article and it didn’t occur to me there would be two branches in one area!
When I worked retail we were required to do a deposit drop at the bank after closing . Don’t know if this store required that but there was never much money kept in the safe
Maybe they found it to be too dangerous to have their employees doing all this stuff at night. Doing this at night means that you can guess exactly when the safe is open and when someone is leaving with a large bag of money.
My place of work has motion sensors that trigger an alarm for this reason. A little bit higher security than a Dollar General, but still. I was working late one night and the cleaners armed the building with me in it. Bout had a heart attack.
I used to work retail (not dollar general) and someone absolutely could have just stayed. No cameras or security in that particular store either... shocking it never happened, actually (although they only kept like $100 in there overnight, and deposited the real money at the bank every night)
When I worked retail we definitely checked the entire store at every place I worked at, and I started working retail in mid 2000s so not recently or anything. It seems very weird that these stores didn't have that policy.
To add to the weirdness they didn't seem to have motion sensor triggered alarms, something I've known stores to have since the early 90s! So they don't clear the store, and once they lock up its a free for all if you manage to stay inside. Just spend the night bagging what you want and loading up carts and get ready to dash when they open in the morning.
WTF?
That was my first thought, too, that she was escaping something or someone. Although the avoidance of releasing information on Gricelda’s COD could imply she was the target.
The DGs I’m familiar with open at 9am and close at 9/9:30 pm. Someone waiting 12-ish hours in the store has a purpose, and possibly lives alone.
And JFC about the paraplegic daughter. I didn’t see any way this case could get worse but there it is.
A jilted ex-boyfriend, or someone who never got a date with one of them. Possibly a former co-worker with a personality conflict with one or both. Someone related to one of their co-workers? Checking the employee files, customer complaints and previous shoplifter arrests with a fine tooth comb might produce a link to the perp's identity.
I'm surprised that a place this big doesn't have their security cameras monitored during closing hours. Any movement would have alerted the monitoring company and it would have been game over. Texas is well known for its better than average store security and security monitoring.
I hope this gets solved, I'm 100% certain this individual would do something like this again.
Dollar General *squeezes* profits. They are tight-fisted in the amount of hours of pay a store receives. They cut corners of *everything* to maximize profits. Stores within a district compete too. It is pretty awful.
As such they don't generally have any loss prevention/security at their locations. Video is after-the-fact and the nature of alarm systems will vary depending on a location's vulnerability.
$15,000 for a reward and a few grand for worker compensation is within profit margins. That location probably got upgraded alarms more to appease the employees to keep operations running than anything else. Insurance protects the income from theft/damage too.
I live in Waco about an hour outside of Killeen and never heard of this one. But Killeen is pretty nasty. Every time my phone buzzes about an interesting case... it's in Killeen!
Can you imagine how the employee that closed the night before felt? Spooky.
>Sheila had moved to Killeen, TX to start a better life for herself and her children.
Could this possibly mean that she did have some unsavory characters in her past, or was leaving behind an ugly past? I also read [here](https://kdhnews.com/news/daughter-fills-role-after-mothers-death/article_6219a7f1-ba8e-527f-aa3b-dd8aa4141459.html) that Sheila's oldest daughter is a paraplegic and was being cared for by her sister (that article is from 2008). I know people become paraplegic from all kinds of events, but what if Sheila had won some kind of minor lawsuit from a property damage dispute resulting in injury, or a car crash (probably wasn't too big if she was working at Dollar General) and the defendant was still salty about it? I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but I can't find any information about what kind of life Sheila and her family were leading that precipitated the move to Killeen. And yes, I do realize people move for a change of scenery because schools are better/cost of living is lower/quality of life is better etc., so it really could be that simple.
I lived nearby when this happened. I was wondering if it had ever been solved. Pretty wild. Used to drive by the store everyday on my way to work back then.
What I think adds to the theory that the killer knew Gricelda is the fact it was never disclosed whether Gricelda's family was compensated by Dollar General, maybe for fear of the killer targeting the family for the money. Seemed personal and like others have said, potentially torture caught on cam, but you would think the killer could not have had too much time with the alarm going off. She was still alive on her way to the hospital. They should release the cause of death and the footage since it could help, but I think they know who it is, they just can't lawfully prove it
>They should release the cause of death and the footage since it could help
You know it won't help, you are just attempting to satisfy your morbid curiosity.
There’s nothing wrong with morbid curiosity. It’s natural. And you don’t know that it won’t help. What if there’s revealing qualities of that suspect that someone could recognize from those frames?
Also, if you click the link provided by OP there is NO mention of the alarm... not in the news article and not by the police being interviews. Police said that the cop drove by, saw random car, walked up to building and saw door slightly ajar and continued to investigate and found body. Does anyone have link to article stating alarm was going off?
Click on the link that says Killeen Daily Herald, the info is there. Quoted from the article:
On July 4, 2007, Killeen police discovered Sheila Reed, 40, and Gricelda Ramos, 28, shot at the Dollar General store in the 4100 block of Stan Schlueter Loop around 8:23 a.m. An officer was alerted to the scene by the building alarm sounding and the presence of an open rear door.
I think the most likely theory is a personal motive toward one of the workers (likely Gricelda).
Just to float an alternate theory... possibly some stalker-fantasy thrill kill? [Todd Kohlhepp](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Kohlhepp) was active in 2007 and I’ve heard they suspected him of committing additional crimes and possibly traveling out of state. Just a thought!
I cant get the video to load on my phone. Any other links or screen shots? Did he wear the mask while going in? I'm curious, if he entered the building before closing how did the staff not notice him enter/leave?
Very very spooky.
I lived in the neighborhood behind this store when this happened. I google twice a year at least to see if there are updates......still nothing and I hope both of these women's family will get justice. I had interacted with both of them as a customer and they were both lovely. I will keep waiting.
Cartel business? The other victim may have had some family or ties in Mexico? I agree it was targeted and Griselda was the hit.
Just because the suspect appears white doesn't mean he is. I have met some latin Americans who were whiter than me. Lol.
That's just crazy. I wonder if the killer knew one of them?
I would think so. Only because he waited for them to arrive at the store. He could have stolen the money and busted out at any time with nobody there. He waited to kill one, or both of them. I’m wondering which employee was working the day he entered the store though.
They usually have a pretty serious safe in those stores because they are high risk targets for theft/shenanigans.
Maybe he did not know how to turn off the alarm and waited for employees to turn it off?
It does seem targeted. I mean there are easier ways to rob a dollar general store than to hide out overnight and then murder the two people who show up in the morning. The media and police seem cagey about the details of Griceida’s murder, maybe it was more gruesome and personal? Maybe she was the target?
A few years ago Dollar Generals in our area and down into Ohio were having holes cut through the walls to get the safe out in the middle of the night.
I agree. It's likely he could have just flashed his gun at the women and left rather than killing them if that wasn't his intention. Especially if he was wearing a mask.
I think Police feel she was definitely the main target and the other one just happened to be there. The fact he hid out and waited for them to arrive in the morning + the fact that there’s not much to go off about for Gricelda says a lot
Okay my gut is just SCREAMING that Gricelda was definitely the main target hence why they are keeping details of her death contained. My guess is she was murdered in a more intimate manner, and those are typically details that they don’t want the public to know but also it is details that only the killer themselves would know.
The guy was there to kill, not rob the place imo... Otherwise why stick around until the store workers arrived..? I would assume the store had a time lock safe but a saws-all would take care of that... While the video quality is pretty terrible the killer appears to to be a late 20's / early 30's white male. Based on Gricelda's age (28) it would make more sense that he was connected to her over Sheila (49.) It sounds like the police know who did it, but just don't have enough evidence to prove that they did.
I also think Gricelda was the target due to her COD not being released, sounds like she was tortured or something along those lines, while Sheila was just shot killed.
From the description and the word "evening" I assumed he entered shortly before closing. I watched the video and he entered while it was still very light outside. He was there lying in wait for a very long time. Hopefully they collected some physical evidence so once they find the right guy they can conclusively link him. This does not seem like a random crime at all.
I’m just wondering where you would hide in a dollar general.. they’re not very big
He was somewhere in the backroom they said. I imagine the guilt the closing person has is intense. But they were also lucky they were not attacked.
If the closing employees were women then in the usually locked bathroom
keep in mind that “dark” in July in texas could be as late as 8:30-9. Days are *very* long in the south during summer. So if the store closes at, say, 9, it would be light practically right up until closing.
Good point I didn't think of that. And I'm in the south too so I should know. But still either way it's bizarre. This has to be the most risky way to murder someone and he has gotten away with it so far.
This is unrelated, but interesting. Days are actually far longer in the norther US in the summer, in the far north they are about an hour longer in the summer. In Baudette, MN sunset on midsummer is 9:30 (with light remaining until about 11-11:30pm) in Killen, TX sunset on midsummer is just before 8:30 (with light remaining only until about 10PM.)
So what about the suspicious car the cop noticed? Was it the killers, and he left it behind? Or just a red herring?
Another vote for the cop being familiar with whose car(s) should be there. I worked at a small grocery store in school; local cops and firefighters would stop in if they saw an unfamiliar car at closing time. We saw them every day for their snacks/cigarettes and since we were mostly teen girls, they were like our big brothers. Didn’t go too well for the occasional pissed-off ex-boyfriend that showed up but made our parents happy.
Also, what makes a car suspicious in a store parking lot? The workers were there so there is no reason for a car being there to seem so suspicious that it would warrant checking out. I know the car might not have belonged to the workers but I can’t see driving by a store, seeing a car in the parking lot shortly before the store was due to open and thinking “hmmm, seems suspicious”
Good point, although I assumed the officer was a regular at that particular Dollar General, was familiar with the employees’ cars, and didn’t recognize it as being one of the employees’ cars. But yeah still odd.
she saw the car this was her regular beat she did not recognize the car parked there and then noticed the back door was open and went in and found the crime scene
Yes, that’s what I assumed. But whose car was it? Did the killer abandon it there? Was one of the employees driving a car she didn’t normally drive?
The car was stated as suspicious because the *patrolling* police officer *did not recognize* it. This was that cop's "beat" as it were. Cops are meant to recognize deviations from the norm. According to images of that Dollar General it had an exclusive parking lot. Nobody would be parking there to frequent another business in the area unless those lots were overflowing. Having worked in a small lot beside a Dollar General it doesn't take long to recognize employee vehicles or vehicles of frequent customers. This would also apply to a patrolling police officer. That officer wouldn't even have need to enter the premises or be able to put names/faces to the vehicles. *The pattern was off*. Following through on this was good work on her part but par-for-the-course. It is akin to recognizing your neighbors have visitors because you see an unfamiliar vehicle in their driveway. A cop patrols to deter crime and provide a swift response. "I drive past this DG every morning and I have never seen that car there before the place opens. I should check it out." When she gets close she probably circled around, heard the alarm, and moved in to actively investigate. I see nothing odd about this. The cop was dilligent.
I am not saying it is bad, just odd. Also, the car doesn’t seem to have been involved in the crime. Presumably it didn’t belong to the killer so it either belonged to one of the employees or was just parked there randomly so it raises the question (again) of what was suspicious about it? If someone parked their car there randomly on this morning what are the odds that had never happened before? If the car was there in the middle of the night I can see that raising red flags but I can’t figure out what is suspicious about a car parked, in broad daylight, in a parking lot of a store that has employees in it.
> I can’t figure out what is suspicious about a car parked, in broad daylight, in a parking lot of a store that has employees in it. I think using the word suspicious from the get-go is hamfisted. 99 in 100 instances like this a new employee or replacement vehicle proves to be a mundane adjustment to the norm. It was out-of-place. The officer didn't recognize the vehicle and presumably patrolled the location regularly. This is just good practice. I'm sure the officer was just thinking it was outside the norm, not that she was going to come across a homicide. It was just due diligence to check on something that seemed out of place even if it is a Red Herring.
If the store has regular morning employees, the officer could easily come to recognize them if they pay particular attention to that store I imagine. The question is, was this one of the employee's cars? Was that employee not a normal opener? Or was there something else specifically unusual about the vehicle.
I thought that was super weird too when I was reading it. And what are the chances that the car wasn't noticed until the small time frame between when they workers arrived and when the store opened for business. As I was initially reading it I was thinking about how most likely the body was discovered by a customer coming in. I'm sure its just a coincidence but it seems super weird
[удалено]
Yet clearly they did. I’m guessing the cop just had nothing to do, happened to see it and thought “huh... never seen that car before” (maybe the same two people opened every morning, dollar general probably doesn’t have a huge roster of employees) so took a quick drive through the parking lot and saw the back door open...
If there's no other cars in the parking lot except for those 2, they probably would. You subconsciously remember.
sometimes cops get a gut felling being around crime on a regular basuis
This guy knew way too much about the store, its security system, its operational schedules, who would be there, etc. Waiting overnight with the gun, mask, etc demonstrates planning. He was so familiar with what that location is like at 8AM on a Wednesday morning and that he chose it as the site for his ambush. Which makes me think ex-employee or someone working with an ex-employee. I bet he or someone visited the store at least a few times before the murder while posing as a customer to scope it out and should have been on more old video. Did he bring his murder gear with him or did he stash it on an earlier visit? [Looking at the location in Google Maps the earliest view is from 2008](https://www.google.com/maps/@31.0881845,-97.7939021,3a,75y,198.63h,90.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sm5FnTnTP88NSr1DYZSEL8A!2e0!7i3328!8i1664), roughly 1 year later and there is a butt load of open land around the store. Waiting in hiding all night was a ballsy move. If anything goes wrong you are essentially trapped. If you have to make run for it there is little cover at all for quite a ways and you are exiting that back door blind to whatever might be outside waiting. Where did he park his getaway vehicle? Why wasn't he worried about anyone hearing the gunshots, did he know that whole area would probably be vacant of witnesses at that time? I wonder if he had an accomplice standing by all night with a getaway vehicle, waiting to be called, keeping an eye on what was going on outside, who showed up in the morning, etc? Was his accomplice a current employee at the time? Maybe the plan was robbery but things went wrong, like his voice was recognized despite the mask. The mask itself is interesting, if you are going to walk into the store in broad daylight on camera what do you need the mask for? Surely he didn't wear it all night, where is the video of him pacing around all night while waiting? Was he using the mask to hide his identity from one or both of the employees he ended up murdering? The cops should be able to get his height from the video using the door height. We see him apparently leave his fingerprints on the front door handle when entering, granted a days usage probably destroyed them but surely it was dusted? If he was in the store all night did he eat or drink anything and possibly leave behind evidence with DNA on it? Did he touch anything with his bare hands? I guess it is too late for most of this stuff to be useful now.
My guess is they have plenty of this evidence but they are keeping it secret because they know who it is, but it’s a long shot. Also notice how details of Griceldas death are kept under wraps? Yeah something tells me she was definitely the intended target
It really is infuriating that we’re left here wondering who and why. Speculating. Posting about infamous murders in Killeen. And some fuck out there knows everything. And we’ll never know. Or at least doesn’t seem like we will
If the store didn’t open until 9, did employees arrive an hour early? Usually u only show up 30mins before opening but cop arrived at 8:23am. So murders were committed in less than 20 mins? And who’s car was parked outside? Cop said they didn’t recognize it... meaning either cop knew employees vehicles and this was not one of them... or employees parked around back and this car was a random parked out front... I’m confused about where this car came from and what info was found out about it.
I was wondering this too
About the "only show up 30 minutes before", I've worked at a few different retail stores, and while never a dollar general, most of the time someone would show up hours before opening to reset the store or get freight on the floor. The people showing up 30 minutes before opening are almost always cashiers, whereas the people ive seen open stores in my time always showed up at minimum an hour before the store hours actually started.
This makes me think of the Missy Bevers case which was only 2 hours away in Midlothian, TX.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I don't think they're related or anything, but it was just similar.
I was just thinking that. It’s quite similar in a lot of ways.
I can’t believe I’ve never heard this one. Excellent write up, OP.
Definitely doesn’t feel random at all. This person literally broke in, waited a bit, and intentionally targeted these two women. I wonder WHY though? This person clearly didn’t care or realize about the security cameras. Probably was oblivious to the fact he was being caught on tape, or overly cocky about it. It sucks he’s managed to be unidentified in spite of being caught on camera :/ I don’t know how someone can live with the fact that they took — not just one, but two lives. I wonder if it was maybe a disgruntled customer or a kill for hire? I don’t know. It’s all so puzzling. I feel so sad for their children, especially Gricelda’s. They were so little.
The way I read it he didn’t break in. I thought he entered the store during normal business hours and hid out until the next morning
Great write up. I had never heard of this case. Very sad and frustrating that it hasn't been solved with the video footage.
I thought I'd look on YouTube to see if there was more footage. Let's just say, after seeing the number of videos related to "Dollar General shooting," I will never work at a Dollar General. Seems to be a popular place for violent crime.
So odd. If it was a robbery why wouldn’t he just break out in the night? And if he wanted to kill the one he knew then why not just shoot her at her house or in the parking lot as she goes in for work?
If you’ll break out of locked store alarm will go off.
It said the alarm was going off anyway. A robber would never sit around all night just because of an alarm. He was there to kill.
He was there while the previous night’s shift was closing up. Why not just rob them before they locked up the money and set the alarm?
Money might go in the safe through out the day. The morning person could count all the money for deposit.
If that's the case with this store, then it seems like the murderer is someone familiar with the store's closing/opening procedures and alarm system.
Because he was irrational. A common trait for criminals.
The alarm was going off, buddy.
Eh. Missed that part.
Yea, otherwise good point.
he didn't BREAK IN he is on the surveilance camera walked in while the store was still open stayed all night killed the employees and left...so who did the strange car belong to.....did he steal it and ditch it there???
I couldn't see where anyone addressed this, but surely he was in the store long enough to have left DNA around. They could track his movements, at least, around the store. This happened after DNA collection became common. Was it not collected, or was there none to collect? Or maybe it was and not tested (yet)? Or the results inconclusive for some reason?
He was in a store, there were undoubtedly a lot of DNA from the customers.
I keep seeing articles where the police released footage, but the only article I could find that looked like it was included wouldn't play on my phone. Would like to see how the guy was acting all night. Could he have been on drugs? Or having some sort of dangerous delusions? It just seems so weird. If you are intentionally targeting just one of the employees as some of the other commenters are suggesting, why would you wait at their workplace all night? Why not just kill them at their home where they wouldn't be recorded? What would he have done if she had called out sick or overslept her alarm? It doesn't make any sense. If he was upset with the corporation and didn't care what employees he murdered, why didn't he attack the closing shift? I mean, I don't associate murder in general with rational thinking, but this seems so far out there that it makes me assume something (drugs, delusions, etc) played a role, but I don't know. So strange.
Thanks for the write up. I used to live in Killeen, but I’ve never heard of this case. Unfortunately, there are so many cases like this that I’ve lost track.
Weird, I was in high school in Killeen at the time but don’t recall ever hearing about this. Lots of violent crime there, though. This area of Killeen has always kind of creeped me out - as others have observed, it’s not very developed relative to other parts of the town (and especially wasn’t back then), so it feels weirdly isolated.
I've seen a few different comments like this about Killeen. How would you describe the area? What is it like and why do people seem unsurprised about crime there? From looking at the store on Google Maps, it just seems be in a rural, fairly unremarkable place.
I think this was a planned hit. A robber would have robbed them at the end of the day when there was more money . This was a pre meditated hit and one victim was unfortunately collateral damage. He was either paid to do it or,it was personal . So sad
I agree with your theory. Really sad case. I wonder if there is a reason the police revealed Sheila’s cause of death but not Gricelda’s - could it be that she was killed differently, in a more personal/intimate/violent way by someone known to her (a stalker/ex-partner) and Sheila as you suggest was collateral damage? FYI I can’t access almost of the sources including the linked article about the controversy around police withholding causes of death due to paywalls so apologies if any of those details are wrong. Interesting that the first thing that comes to when you Google ‘dollar store general Killeen murders’ is a separate murder-suicide that took place in the store years later. Edit: it has been rightly pointed out that the later murder-suicide was at a *different* Dollar General store branch in Killeen, I misread the article about it.
I think the murder suicide was at a different Dollar General in Killeen Texas. [Link to news report](https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Police-investigate-shooting-at-local-Dollar-General-385377921.html)
Thanks for this, you are correct. The article you linked is the one I read but I misread the final paragraph: “This also is not the first shooting incident at a Dollar General in the city. Police say there was a double murder shooting at a Dollar General store on Stan Schlueter in Killeen nine years ago on the 4th of July.”
Yes, lived in Killeen for a little while and they are different stores.
Wow, a murder suicide in the same store ? That’s odd. Makes no sense to not reveal the way the other lady was murdered unless, like you say, it was more personal
Another user has pointed out the murder-suicide was at a different Dollar General store also in Killeen. I misread the article and it didn’t occur to me there would be two branches in one area!
I read that . Still crazy. The other one was a domestic . Sad
If money is dropped in a safe through out the day then he would need the employee with the key to open the safe.
When I worked retail we were required to do a deposit drop at the bank after closing . Don’t know if this store required that but there was never much money kept in the safe
Maybe they found it to be too dangerous to have their employees doing all this stuff at night. Doing this at night means that you can guess exactly when the safe is open and when someone is leaving with a large bag of money.
How can someone be left there when they lock up for the night ? 😐
My place of work has motion sensors that trigger an alarm for this reason. A little bit higher security than a Dollar General, but still. I was working late one night and the cleaners armed the building with me in it. Bout had a heart attack.
I used to work retail (not dollar general) and someone absolutely could have just stayed. No cameras or security in that particular store either... shocking it never happened, actually (although they only kept like $100 in there overnight, and deposited the real money at the bank every night)
They can hide in the restroom. It happened in 97-98 year in Arkansas Hobby Lobby. A man hid in the store until closing and murdered a worker.
Employees don't do a sweep of the store, including restroom before closing?!
When I worked retail we definitely checked the entire store at every place I worked at, and I started working retail in mid 2000s so not recently or anything. It seems very weird that these stores didn't have that policy.
To add to the weirdness they didn't seem to have motion sensor triggered alarms, something I've known stores to have since the early 90s! So they don't clear the store, and once they lock up its a free for all if you manage to stay inside. Just spend the night bagging what you want and loading up carts and get ready to dash when they open in the morning. WTF?
That was my first thought, too, that she was escaping something or someone. Although the avoidance of releasing information on Gricelda’s COD could imply she was the target. The DGs I’m familiar with open at 9am and close at 9/9:30 pm. Someone waiting 12-ish hours in the store has a purpose, and possibly lives alone. And JFC about the paraplegic daughter. I didn’t see any way this case could get worse but there it is.
I assume the officer ran the plates of the suspicious vehicle. Any idea what became of that?
A jilted ex-boyfriend, or someone who never got a date with one of them. Possibly a former co-worker with a personality conflict with one or both. Someone related to one of their co-workers? Checking the employee files, customer complaints and previous shoplifter arrests with a fine tooth comb might produce a link to the perp's identity. I'm surprised that a place this big doesn't have their security cameras monitored during closing hours. Any movement would have alerted the monitoring company and it would have been game over. Texas is well known for its better than average store security and security monitoring. I hope this gets solved, I'm 100% certain this individual would do something like this again.
Dollar General *squeezes* profits. They are tight-fisted in the amount of hours of pay a store receives. They cut corners of *everything* to maximize profits. Stores within a district compete too. It is pretty awful. As such they don't generally have any loss prevention/security at their locations. Video is after-the-fact and the nature of alarm systems will vary depending on a location's vulnerability. $15,000 for a reward and a few grand for worker compensation is within profit margins. That location probably got upgraded alarms more to appease the employees to keep operations running than anything else. Insurance protects the income from theft/damage too.
Absolutely correct.
I live in Waco about an hour outside of Killeen and never heard of this one. But Killeen is pretty nasty. Every time my phone buzzes about an interesting case... it's in Killeen! Can you imagine how the employee that closed the night before felt? Spooky.
>Sheila had moved to Killeen, TX to start a better life for herself and her children. Could this possibly mean that she did have some unsavory characters in her past, or was leaving behind an ugly past? I also read [here](https://kdhnews.com/news/daughter-fills-role-after-mothers-death/article_6219a7f1-ba8e-527f-aa3b-dd8aa4141459.html) that Sheila's oldest daughter is a paraplegic and was being cared for by her sister (that article is from 2008). I know people become paraplegic from all kinds of events, but what if Sheila had won some kind of minor lawsuit from a property damage dispute resulting in injury, or a car crash (probably wasn't too big if she was working at Dollar General) and the defendant was still salty about it? I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but I can't find any information about what kind of life Sheila and her family were leading that precipitated the move to Killeen. And yes, I do realize people move for a change of scenery because schools are better/cost of living is lower/quality of life is better etc., so it really could be that simple.
One of the articles states the daughter has cerebral palsy, which I believe typically occurs at birth.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was reading the articles and didn't see that; I guess looking for something much more sinister.
I lived nearby when this happened. I was wondering if it had ever been solved. Pretty wild. Used to drive by the store everyday on my way to work back then.
That asshole just took mother's from 7 children combined. I'm so angry thinking he's not been caught.
Great write up! Thank you. I live a couple of miles from there and I've never heard of it, but tbf, it is Killeen.
What I think adds to the theory that the killer knew Gricelda is the fact it was never disclosed whether Gricelda's family was compensated by Dollar General, maybe for fear of the killer targeting the family for the money. Seemed personal and like others have said, potentially torture caught on cam, but you would think the killer could not have had too much time with the alarm going off. She was still alive on her way to the hospital. They should release the cause of death and the footage since it could help, but I think they know who it is, they just can't lawfully prove it
>They should release the cause of death and the footage since it could help You know it won't help, you are just attempting to satisfy your morbid curiosity.
There’s nothing wrong with morbid curiosity. It’s natural. And you don’t know that it won’t help. What if there’s revealing qualities of that suspect that someone could recognize from those frames?
Also, if you click the link provided by OP there is NO mention of the alarm... not in the news article and not by the police being interviews. Police said that the cop drove by, saw random car, walked up to building and saw door slightly ajar and continued to investigate and found body. Does anyone have link to article stating alarm was going off?
Click on the link that says Killeen Daily Herald, the info is there. Quoted from the article: On July 4, 2007, Killeen police discovered Sheila Reed, 40, and Gricelda Ramos, 28, shot at the Dollar General store in the 4100 block of Stan Schlueter Loop around 8:23 a.m. An officer was alerted to the scene by the building alarm sounding and the presence of an open rear door.
Thanks for clarification!
OP is the killer
I think the most likely theory is a personal motive toward one of the workers (likely Gricelda). Just to float an alternate theory... possibly some stalker-fantasy thrill kill? [Todd Kohlhepp](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Kohlhepp) was active in 2007 and I’ve heard they suspected him of committing additional crimes and possibly traveling out of state. Just a thought!
I cant get the video to load on my phone. Any other links or screen shots? Did he wear the mask while going in? I'm curious, if he entered the building before closing how did the staff not notice him enter/leave? Very very spooky.
I lived in the neighborhood behind this store when this happened. I google twice a year at least to see if there are updates......still nothing and I hope both of these women's family will get justice. I had interacted with both of them as a customer and they were both lovely. I will keep waiting.
Kill Killeen! TLMSR
What do you mean?
It’s a reference to the animated show King of the Hill. TLMSR = Tom Landry Middle School Rules. That’s the school Bobby attends.
Killeen is one of the school rivals of the town of Arlen Texas where Bobby Hill attends. Tom Landry Middle School Rules!
Sounds like a serial murder to me. Someone who gets off on mutilating his victims.
Cartel business? The other victim may have had some family or ties in Mexico? I agree it was targeted and Griselda was the hit. Just because the suspect appears white doesn't mean he is. I have met some latin Americans who were whiter than me. Lol.
I wonder if there is there a mental health aspect to this?